Hurricanes v Highlanders: Covid outbreak rocks Hurricanes during Super Rugby Pacific bye week

The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for the Hurricanes as they fight for a spot in the Super Rugby Pacific playoffs.

A Covid outbreak in the team after their 35-17 win over the Chiefs earlier this month, forcing multiple players and coaches to stay home during their week off.

Hurricanes assistant coach Jamie Mackintosh says most of the players are back on deck to begin preparations for Friday’s crucial clash against the Highlanders in Wellington.

“Every team gets sickness and as coach I’m happy it was last week and not this week,” said Mackintosh.

Hurricanes hooker Asafo Aumua said some of the players were hit hard with illness.

“Quite a few of us had Covid, so a few of us were quite crook,” said Aumua.

“It was more the front end of the week, so that was good.

“We could start getting into our remote training by ourselves at the back end and it didn’t really affect us too much.”

With three games remaining, the Hurricanes currently occupy the final playoff spot in sixth after a recent run of good results.

They’re unbeaten in their last three games, playing out a draw with the Western Force, followed by wins over the Brumbies and Chiefs.

History says the Hurricanes will extend their win streak, as the Highlanders haven’t won in the capital since the 2015 grand final.

One player who is unlikely to face the Highlanders is winger Kini Naholo, with the Hurricanes still waiting to determine the severity of his knee injury.

Naholo went down clutching his right knee in a concerning non-contact incident early in the win over the Chiefs.

“It didn’t look good, did it? We’ve got to go get some more scans,” said Mackintosh. “When it’s a non-contact injury, everyone looks at the TV in disappointment.

“We just hope for the best for Kini. He’s a big part of our team.”

While Naholo is in doubt, first-five Brett Cameron is a chance of returning from an ACL injury during last year’s NPC, having completed two club games.

Mackintosh feels the Hurricanes’ form is no coincidence with most of their stars returning after missing the opening rounds of the season including Ruben Love and Billy Proctor.

“We had a ton of injuries at the start of the year but you can start to see the combinations click and we’re very fortunate to have some guys coming back from injury,” said Mackintosh.

“That’s going to be a week-to-week decision but at the moment we’ve backed off that block [of games with back-to-back wins] and some cohesion with our selections certainly helped us.”

Squads for this weekend’s games are named at 4pm on Wednesday.

For live commentary of Super Rugby Pacific matches featuring New Zealand teams, go to GOLD SPORT or iHeartRadio.

Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.