Rugby: Hurricanes hoping to tweak lineout

Jeremy Thrush of the Hurricanes wins a lineout. Photo / Getty Images.

The Hurricanes aren't shying away from the fact they need to improve their lineout for tomorrow's Super Rugby semifinal against the Brumbies in Wellington.

Hurricanes lock Jeremy Thrush said they had time to focus on what had been letting them down during last week's bye.

"We've had an extra week to figure things out ... so we're going in there with a lot of confidence," he said.

The 30-year-old acknowledged they had failed to succeed in taking the ball during lineouts recently and needed to focus on this as a problem area.

"I won't shy away from the fact that [during] the past three weeks we've been a bit rocky there," he said.

The Brumbies operate their lineout at 91 per cent efficiency from their own throw, the equal-highest figure in the competition, while the Hurricanes have dropped to 80 per cent.

Tomorrow's semifinal clash will be the first time the two sides will meet this season, so it is difficult to anticipate what to expect.

The Hurricanes have racked up plenty of points during their successful campaign, while the Brumbies had the tightest defence during the regular season.

However, Thrush was confident the Hurricanes forwards would be able to overcome their previous faults and wouldn't be distracted by what the Brumbies had to offer.

"If we focus too much on them and not keep an eye on what we need to do for our set-piece then we'll be on the back foot pretty quickly," he said.

Thrush was also wary of trying to pin down the exact problem or fault in their lineouts as he said there wasn't a single issue they needed to improve on.

"It's more of ... putting the comb over and going through a lot of the things that are kind of letting us down."

Problems could be caused by slow lifts and bad calls, he said.

"We're making sure we get our stuff right ... so we can hit the ground running."

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd also acknowledged the lineout was an issue during their recent matches.

"There was a bit of soul searching around that area of our game," Boyd said.

"We've put a lot of effort into it this week and we're confident that we can be better."

Tomorrow's game was expected to feature a sell-out crowd, something that usually only occurs when the All Blacks are in town.

"We've got a full stadium behind us ... and we've got to feed off the energy and keep playing our game," Thrush said.