SHANE HURNDELL
LESS than five months after breaking his right leg, Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby captain Danny Lee will play for his fourth Super 14 franchise tomorrow night.
"I'm a little bit surprised but I'm stoked. My style of play is what the selectors want this weekend," he said after being named in the Blues starting XV for their clash against the Chiefs at Eden Park.
Lee, 31, broke his right leg in the Kelt Capital Magpies Air New Zealand Cup win against Manawatu on September 29. His only game time since then was 50 minutes for the Blues in their pre-season loss to the Highlanders.
"Leg wise there are no problems. Match fitness will no doubt be a factor and I've been told to go as hard as I can for as long as I can before I'm subbed," he said.
"With the new rules halfbacks in general are going to have to be fitter and get around the park a bit more," said Lee, a former Hurricane, Highlander and Chief.
The two-test All Black can see the irony in taking the field for the Blues against his former Chiefs outfit.
"Before being named in the Blues I never liked them ... they were the most hated team in the country. It's totally different now in the professional era ... you can be picked up by any team. I'm paid to go out and do a job and I go out and get stuck into it," he said. One of last year's Magpies props, Wellington loan player Tim Fairbrother, will start for the Hurricanes against the Waratahs in Sydney tomorrow night. Magpies hooker Hika Elliot will be on the Canes bench.
Magpies winger Zac Guildford was unavailable because of an injury and Magpies loosie Michael Johnson missed out on the 22. Another of the Magpies' props, Clint Newland, starts for the Highlanders against the Reds in Brisbane tonight.
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