Extras get shot at starring

FEND-OFF: Brad Shields, ball in hand, is one of the few name players in tomorrow's Hurricanes versus Blues match.

The names don't exactly roll off the tongue when you look at the make-up of the Hurricanes squad to meet the Blues in a Super 15 rugby match at Memorial Park, Masterton, tomorrow.

Apart from gun loosies Ardie Savea, Jack Lam and Brad Shields and experienced backs Chris Smylie and Tim Bateman, the starting line-up consists of players still to prove themselves at the highest levels.

Strangely, however, the lack of high-profile individuals like All Blacks Julian Savea, Cory Jane, Beauden Barrett, Conrad Smith, Victor Vito, Jeremy Thrush and Dane Coles adds to the intrigue of a clash between two franchises who like nothing better than to earn bragging rights over the other, whether or not championship points are at stake.

If the Hurricanes are to reward their loyal fans with a long-awaited Super 15 title in 2014 then several taking the field for them tomorrow will have to repay the faith placed in them by coach Mark Hammett and his management team. Their Memorial Park appearance gives them an opportunity to make a start in that respect.

Front rowers Chris Eves, Joe Royal and Brendon Edmonds are all very much in the novice category and their individual performances will come under close scrutiny while locks James Broadhurst and Mark Abbott will be desperate to make every post a winner as well. At first-five will be Marty Banks, who scored points by the bucketload for Tasman on the provincial scene last season, Southland recruit Cardiff Vaega is in the midfield and up-and-coming winger Matt Proctor is on one wing but little is known - at least in these parts - of either the other wing Newton Tudreu or fullback Nehe Milner-Skudder.

Expectations are that most of the 12 players who will sit on the reserves bench will have some game time for the Hurricanes and they include the former Blues midfielder Hadleigh Parkes, fullback Andre Taylor, who has been on the fringes of AB selection, experienced lock Mark Reddish and burly front rowers John Schwalger and Motu Matu'u.

The Blues are also fielding a squad devoid of their All Blacks but, as has been well documented, they will provide the centre of most attention with rugby league convert Benji Marshall sharing the first-five duties with the promising Baden Kerr. Marshall's every move is sure to be the subject of much after-match debate but, as Blues coach Sir John Kirwan has been quick to stress, he is in the learning phase of his career in the 15-a-side game and, consequently, should be seen as a work in progress. That said, an impressive game tomorrow and Marshall will be headline material all over the rugby world.

Three curtain-raisers will precede the big match, all being played under the sevens format. The first will kick off at 12.55pm and feature two women's teams, which will include three New Zealand sevens reps, Shakira Baker, Amanda Rasch and Crystal Mayes. Baker, a stalwart of the Eketahuna club could claim to be the best-credentialled player taking the field in any of the four games tomorrow, having repped for the Black Ferns at 15-a-side as well.

The second curtain-raiser will start at 1.20pm and is being billed as a "Sumo's sevens" because the one proviso is the participants have to tip the scales at 105kg plus and the third, kicking off at 1.45pm, will be between Wairarapa-Bush and a College Rifles Auckland combination coached by former New Zealand sevens captain Ed Cocker.