Hurricanes at GIO Stadium. Photo / Getty Images
It's too early in the season to talk about must-win games, but the match-up between last year's two finalists in Dunedin tonight is looming as a crucial encounter made tougher for both teams by the withdrawal of their All Black strike weapons.
Hurricanes fullback Nehe Milner-Skudder was yesterday ruled out
of the match at Forsyth Barr Stadium with a bruised leg suffered during his team's hammering by the Brumbies in Canberra, with Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo already sidelined with a leg fractured during his team's loss against the Blues at Eden Park.
Both are key attackers, and while coach Chris Boyd will miss Milner-Skudder for probably only one match, Naholo is out for up to eight weeks.
The Hurricanes, thrashed 52-10 by a very good Brumbies side, are likely to find the going extremely difficult against the defending champion Highlanders, who were pipped 33-31 by the Blues in round one, but much will depend on, one, how Jamie Joseph's men react to their defeat in Auckland, and, two, how they cope with the high expectation levels after their grand final victory last year.
It's one thing to fly under the radar every week, despite having such talented individuals as Ben Smith, Aaron Smith, Malakai Fekitoa and Lima Sopoaga, but quite another when you are expected to win every match.
