Rugby: Hurricanes cross fingers for injured Weepu

Aaron Cruden, who has had a shaky season with the boot so far, will take over the goal kicking duties if Piri Weepu is ruled out. Photo / Getty Images

Piri Weepu put a scare through the Hurricanes camp while Victor Vito was ruled out as they try to avert a poor recent record against the Waratahs and book an unlikely Super 14 rugby semifinal on Friday.

Weepu limped out of today's training session in Wellington to have ice treatment after injuring his ankle, and was scheduled for tests later today to determine the extent of the problem before the Hurricanes leave for Sydney tomorrow.

"Hopefully it is just bruising. If it's bruising he'll be fine," coach Colin Cooper said of the 35-test All Black, adding he had no qualms about reinstating Tyson Keats to the No 9 jersey after a strong season if required.

"We're armed with another really good nine who's been starting in the last few weeks. If Piri's to be replaced we're armed pretty well there."

The energetic Keats has started five times for the Hurricanes this season to keep Weepu on the reserves bench, with the latter recalled last week largely for his goalkicking.

He obliged by kicking six from eight attempts in the Hurricanes' 44-21 win over the Reds, which featured a second half onslaught for their fourth consecutive victory to keep them in semifinal contention.

If Weepu was ruled out it would put the goalkicking focus back on young first five-eighth Aaron Cruden, who has sparked the Hurricanes in general play in recent weeks but been shaky with the kicking tee.

Blindside flanker Vito is also a significant loss as he sits out a second successive week with a calf strain.

He trained strongly today and Cooper said he was tempted to give Vito two more days to recover, but erred on the side of caution as Michael Paterson retained the No 6 jersey.

In two other changes, All Blacks centre Conrad Smith returned after missing the Reds match with concussion while loosehead prop John Schwalger returned for Jacob Ellison.

The Hurricanes are one of the form teams in the competition after they languished ninth after the bye in week nine.

Since then they have dispatched the Brumbies, Highlanders, Chiefs and Reds to sit level on points with the fourth-placed Brumbies.

But the Waratahs, one point ahead in third spot, have won the previous three matches between the sides, and in Sydney they have won five from seven against the Hurricanes.

"We haven't gone that well against them in the last couple of years so that's more motivation to get it right," Cooper said.

"Maybe we took them too lightly and last year was early in the year and we weren't quite ready. We're certainly ready now, this team's focus is very strong."

Cooper said his side were determined not to let a semifinal chance slip by after they were virtually written off following a 26-26 draw with the Crusaders on April 2, their fifth winless match in succession.

"It (sudden death) seems to have helped. We've been on a pretty rocky road and every other team's been on a bit of a highway.

"We've had to fight every inch to get into a position to be in the semis after we didn't go that well in South Africa. I'm pretty proud of the way the guys have come back from that."

Smith was confident of no after-effects from his two head knocks against the Chiefs nearly a fortnight ago.

One of the Hurricanes' best this year, Smith passed his psychometric tests on Monday and will rejoin fellow All Blacks midfielder Ma'a Nonu. He was wary of the Waratahs who had been effective spoilers against the Hurricanes in recent seasons.

"The last two times we've played them it's been our first game of the year and we've gone into the comp a little bit ahead of ourselves, trying to throw the ball around and they've caught us out," Smith said.

"Hopefully we've got a more balanced game at this time of year and we're into our stride. We'll play better which we'll need to because they've beaten us pretty comfortably the last two years."

Hurricanes
Cory Jane, Tamati Ellison, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Hosea Gear, Aaron Cruden, Piri Weepu/Tyson Keats, Rodney So'oialo, Karl Lowe, Michael Paterson, Jeremy Thrush, Bryn Evans, Neemia Tialata, Andrew Hore (captain), John Schwalger.

Reserves: Dane Coles, Jacob Ellison, Nick Crosswell, Scott Waldrom, Keats/tbc, Jason Kawau/Willie Ripia, David Smith.

- NZPA