POWER: Hurricanes loosie Ardie Savea has recovered from surgery and will play tomorrow.
It will be the Hurricanes' new signings that will take centre stage when the team takes on the Crusaders in a Super 15 pre-season match at Eketahuna tomorrow.
Eleven players will make their Hurricanes debut and they will be keen to make an impression on coaches Chris Boyd and John Plumtree. The Wellington-based side will be without seven of their All Blacks and the injured lock James Broadhurst and hooker Motu Matu'u.
Perhaps the most interesting of the newcomers will be former Melbourne Rebels fullback Jason Woodward who will start on the wing. The fullback position will be be taken by Manawatu's Nehe Milner-Skudder, who made a huge impression with his counter-attacking skills on the provincial scene last season.
Super 15, of course, is a different kettle of fish but there are many who are expecting Milner-Skudder to be one of the Hurricanes standouts in 2015.
Another Manawatu representative, halfback Jamie Booth, has been named as the reserve halfback behind Frae Wilson and seems sure to get some match time. Other backs who are still unknown quantities at the higher level include Auckland wing Vince Aso, first-five Otere Black and midfielder Willis Halaholo.
In the forwards Hawke's Bay lock Geoff Cridge is seen as a player capable of taking the step up, Waikato hooker Brayden Mitchell is pretty much in the same category and prop Tolu Fahamokioa has suddenly been thrust into the limelight with the news that John Schwalger is now out of the equation.
Boyd and Plumtree will be delighted to have a couple of their leading forwards in prop Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen and openside flanker Ardie Savea as part of their starting XV tomorrow as both have had injury hassles which required surgery.
Savea will form a powerful loose trio with skipper Brad Shields and Blade Thomson.
All Blacks star Dan Carter seems likely to be part of the Crusaders line-up. He has been battling a calf strain but it seems the 32-year-old will play at least the final quarter of the game.
Other All Blacks likely to front up for the Crusaders are locks Luke Romano and Dominic Bird and loosehead prop Joe Moody while in the backs there will be significant interest in the efforts of the three halfbacks in the squad, Mitchell Drummond, Billy Guyton and Jack Stratton.
With Willi Heinz expected to be out for the season with a broken leg and Andy Ellis in Japan, the Crusaders' depth in the vital No9 jersey will be severely tested.
Tomorrow's Tui Brewery-sponsored game, the first of its kind to be played in Eketahuna, will be watched by a capacity crowd of around 4000 people and will kick off at 3pm. Sharing the refereeing duties will be Glen Jackson (Bay of Plenty) and Ben O'Keefe (Wellington).
The game will be preceded at 1pm by a match featuring the Tui Brewery Invitational XV against the PGG Wrightson Invitation XV and refereed by Black Fern Rebecca Mahoney.
Several former Wellington and Wairarapa-Bush players will be part of the action there.-The full Hurricanes squad is: Nehe Milner-Skudder, Vinca Aso, Matt Proctor, Ray Lee-Lo, Jason Woodward, James Marshall, Frae Wilson, Blade Thomson, Ardie Savea, Mark Abbot, Geoff Cridge, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Brayden Mitchell, Ben Franks. Reserves: Leni Apisai, Reggie Goodes, Chris Eves, Tolu Fahamokioa, Mike Kainga, Vaea Fifita, Iopu Ipu-Aso, Heiden Bidwell-Curtis, Jamie Booth, Otere Black, Willis Halaholo, Ope Peleseuma.