KEY POINTS:
One is built like the brick proverbial and is being touted as the next Rodzilla, the other is a rugby league convert hoping to follow in the footsteps of a bloke called Mat Rogers.
But when Herman Hunt and Clinton Schifcofske take the park for the Reds in
a pre-season Super 14 rugby hit out at the ITM Stadium in Whangarei tonight, they will hardly be burdened with the weight of expectation.
Not if their coach Eddie Jones has anything to do with it anyway.
Hunt is a 115kg prop forward who grew up in Auckland but has graduated through the ranks of the Queensland Rugby Academy since moving to Australia when he was 13.
Now he has won his way to a spot in the Reds, he is being compared to Rodney Blake, the 120kg Wallaby front rower nicknamed Rodzilla.
Schifcofske will be playing in his third game of rugby union since switching codes and leaving the Australian NRL club the Canberra Raiders to join the Reds this year, a-la Rogers, who jumped codes three years back.
"This is a very experimental game for us. We will see who steps up and has a go. I have told all the players that every one will get 30 minutes game time at least so that all the players get an opportunity to get out on the track," Jones said.
The former Wallaby coach has stepped in to take the reins at the Reds and been quick to introduce a new generation of Queensland rugby talent, and will front tonight with 12 players who have yet to experience Super 14 rugby.
Compare that with the Blues who arrive tonight with nine players with All Blacks test experience in the starting line-up.
Not that it phases the likes of Hunt.
"I was born in Auckland and moved over to Brisbane when I was a young buck and played schoolboys and then after that Aussie under- 19s and Aussie under- 21s but then got back from the under-21s with a major injury," Hunt said.
"But I decided to make a comeback in the new Australian APC (Australian Provincial Championship) comp just to see how it goes and did well enough to get a Reds contract," Hunt said.
"I just want to have a go at the big boys now.
"I want to see how I go against players at this level. I'm pretty keen actually," he said.
So what about lining up against nine past and present All Blacks then?
"That's good. It will give us a test, and we will learn a few things and by round four, when we get have a go at them for real, we will be ready for them for real," he said.
The game is the third pre-season romp for the Reds, who have played Japan and some trial selections already. Kick-off is at 6pm.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHAGAREI)
