Hurricanes 2018
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That looks like James Tucker, but I don't recognise anyone else. I thought he was still in Italy?
Verney, Aumua, Taukei'aho and McWhannell are four names I expected to be in the Chiefs team but can't have been. BTW, Allardice was on the bench for Melville today (according to the team lists).
I will try to find out from the Chiefs.
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Tucker was only on a short-term injury cover contract with Zebre (until 30 June 2018). He got injured during his debut game for Zebre in November, and only returned to their line-up for the game against Connacht on 16 Feb. According to an Italian website, his contract with Zebre was terminated by mutual agreement and he returned to NZ last week to link up with the Chiefs as an injury replacement for Dominic Bird.
Edited to add that I've found more Italian articles confirming this, although none of the articles literally says that he has already signed a contract with the Chiefs.
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Beauden Barrett trained on Monday and is expected to play the Chiefs on Friday. The news isn't as good for his regular Hurricanes halves partner, though. Details from the team were scant, but it sounds as if halfback TJ Perenara suffered some medial ligament damage in the 38-37 win over the Sharks. Jamie Booth replaced him at halftime in that match and is preparing to start Friday's derby at Westpac Stadium. "Beaudy's all go today. You'll see him out there shortly. He'll be easing into the week but we expect him to be right," Hurricanes backs coach Jason Holland said. "TJ has presented really well this morning, better than we thought he would be on Friday. But he's still really touch and go for the weekend." -
Haha, you know the Canes are playing the Chiefs when they stage another fight for Naki support!
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Hilarious that they've included Charlie Ngatai!
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The arrival of the Chiefs at Westpac Stadium on Friday night will see a number of Taranaki players front up to each other on opposing sides of the field. Taranaki had a long association with the Hurricanes before the union opted to invest in the Chiefs. Nevertheless, the amber and blacks have and still do provide the Hurricanes with some of their finest players and, off the back of an all-time Canes Magpies XV during last week’s visit to Hawke’s Bay, it seems timely to do the same with Taranaki. Putting together an all-time best Canes Taranaki team was no easy task, however. There was plenty of options, especially up front, where Taranaki have provided considerably more forwards that backs to the Hurricanes alumni. Starting up front, inaugural Hurricanes captain Mark ‘Bull’ Allen would start at loosehead prop beside fellow All Blacks and former skipper’s Andrew Hore and Gordon Slater. There was plenty of competition in the second row with the likes of Paul Tito and Craig Clarke just missing out to former All Blacks Jason Eaton and James Broadhurst. Competition was equally tough in the loose forwards where Blade Thomson would start off the back of the scrum while former All Blacks Scott Waldrom and Chris Masoe would be the the openside and blindside flanker respectively. Former Maori All Black Chris Smylie gets the nod at halfback ahead of the likes of Brendan Haami, Tyson Keats and Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi. First five-eighth was the most straight forward choice with Beauden Barrett given the No 10 jersey while the midfield would feature Charlie Ngatai and former Japan international Bryce Robins. There were limited options out wide where Andre Taylor and David Smith wold be the wings with Jordie Barrett patrolling things from fullback. -
@stargazer said in Hurricanes 2018:
Hilarious that they've included Charlie Ngatai!
Yep, when you consider that Ngatai was a Wellington player while at the Hurricanes.
Just as easy to choose Conrad Smith then!
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These teams they come up with are so stupid. They have no criteria other than a connection of sorts.
Players that never played for the province, players that never played for the province and the Canes at the same time, players that only played for the province after they finished at the Canes....Should be just players selected for Canes from either the province main team or age group. Only exceptions being players that are strongly associated with the province through a high number of caps -
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@machpants said in Hurricanes 2018:
Same as best teams/players ever, is impossibly to compare and all subjective anyway. Still, fun to discuss with mates. Not so keen on these things that the canes keep putting out tho
The Manawatu one could be a stretch even for these storytellers.
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@cgrant I posted this 16 days ago. Haven't seen any update since then.
@stargazer said in Hurricanes 2018:
Assuming this is his own hand, I wonder how many games Fidow will miss because of this?
