Cats bet on forward play

Five-eighths David Holwell is back in the Canes starting XV. Marty Melville / Getty Images

The Cats were encouraged by the Hurricanes' forward performance last week and believe they can gain advantage from the lineout and tight play when the two teams open the third round in Wellington tonight.

Cats coach Frans Ludeke watched how the Western Force pack troubled the Hurricanes' lineout and scrum last week and said his team would be silly to ignore those aspects at Westpac Stadium.

Forward play "is definitely an area of strength for us. Wherever you gain advantage on the field you should make use of it", he said.

The Cats forwards are among the biggest and most physical in the competition and often excel in set pieces.

When it hasn't worked for them elsewhere on the field, they have rumbled upfield using their huge men.

"But we are wary of this Hurricanes team. They can hit you from anywhere as they showed last week," Ludeke said.

"They fed off scraps and scored some good tries against the Force. At one stage I was doubting they would win but they showed some real characters of a team that knows how to win."

The Hurricanes have maximum points after their 29-5 win over the Force while the Cats didn't score a try but still toppled the Chiefs 21-16 last weekend.

Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper continued to emphasise "smart rugby" to his team.

"The Cats are very strong in the lineout and you've got to watch the one-off runners who come through the middle. We've just got to play smart against them - that's been our key this week - to play smart," Cooper said.

Cooper has moved Luke Andrews to blindside flanker in place of All Black Jerry Collins, who is on the bench.

Andrews will provide them with another lineout option but if the going gets tough trying to stop the Cats forwards, Collins will be called upon.

"He doesn't like the bench. He's like a bear with a sore tooth," Cooper said of Collins' dislike of missing games.

He described Collins' break as "managing the player" for the harder and longer season.

The most significant change to the team is first five-eighths David Holwell's return to the starting lineup ahead of Jimmy Gopperth, who moves to the bench.

Holwell, who played his rugby in Ireland last year, came off the bench against the Blues two weeks ago, and it has surprised many Hurricanes followers that Gopperth has been given such an early break.

"He had as much pre-season game time as Jimmy had and we have to trust our depth," Cooper said of Holwell's selection.

The Wikus van Heerden-led Cats had their first training session in Wellington yesterday and a lot of attention was given to the scrums and lineouts.

- NZPA