Highlanders v Hurricanes recap, Super Rugby Pacific

Kini Naholo of the Hurricanes scores the opening try against the Highlanders. Photo / Photosport

All the action from the Super Rugby Pacific clash between the Highlanders and Hurricanes in Dunedin.

With two All Blacks coming off the injured list for Friday night’s game against the Highlanders, Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw is starting to see the depth in his pack come to fruition.

Tyrel Lomax will return from an ankle injury to provide the back-up minutes at tighthead prop, hooker Asafo Aumua joins him on the bench after recovering from a foot injury – and with lock Zach Gallagher having recovered from an Achilles injury to get his first Hurricanes start, changes to the make-up of the side were inevitable.

In the front row, it was All Blacks prop Pasilio Tosi who was deemed surplus to requirements for this weekend’s contest, with Tevita Mafileo starting at tighthead alongside Xavier Numia and hooker Jacob Devery. Siale Lauaki also drops out of the side, with Pouri Rakete-Stones joining Lomax as the propping stocks on the bench.

“Yeah, he’s not picked,” Laidlaw said when asked about Tosi’s absence from this week’s match-day squad.

“Tyrel’s back, we felt Tevita’s played particularly well over the first few games. He scrummed really well over the weekend; he was super square and gives us a good platform, so we’ve selected Tevita to start and Tyrel’s coming off the bench.”

While Laidlaw was excited to have a few more bodies available this week, he was tempering expectations around those returning from injury.

None of Aumua, Lomax or Gallagher have played this season and although the coach said they would be ready to play however many minutes are needed from them, he admitted they would need to build their way into the season.

“It’s certainly a boost. I’m not sure it will be a game-changer as such, but they’re good players, they’ve been putting in the work,” Laidlaw said.

“To have a bench the way it looks with the strength and depth that maybe we thought we’d start the season with is starting to come to fruition a little bit up front.

“We have got to be realistic that they’ve not played any rugby since November, so they need to build into their season, starting now. But we expect them to come on and make a difference and play well.”

The Hurricanes will be looking to bounce back after consecutive losses have them sitting at the foot of the ladder after four rounds. They’ll visit a Highlanders team fresh off a bye and looking to continue their solid start, with two wins from their first three fixtures.

With a 1-3 record to open up their campaign, last year’s top-seeded team have already lost more games in the regular season than they did during their 2024 campaign.

“The trend is we’re not executing as well as we’d like,” Laidlaw said of the Hurricanes’ struggles.

“We’re not defending [for] long enough periods, most of the teams are finding that; defending for long periods is proving difficult. The Brumbies are probably the first side, I thought, on Friday night [in their win over the Blues] where they managed to hang in there and do long sets on D [defence].

“We understand that, we’ve talked about discipline around staying in sets defensively; being aggressive but being disciplined with that. That’s always a fine line, isn’t it? Sometimes when you’re on the back foot, you step over that line. We’ve had a really good look at that. We need to execute a little bit better on attack.

“What we’re trying to work on is the behaviours and the language and the movement that that allows us to pull trigger and execute. It’s easy saying execute, but we’re really focusing on what are the behaviours and what does that look like during a week.”