Steinmetz looks good for start spot against Cats

Hurricanes rugby midfielder Paul Steinmetz will be keeping a close eye on his sick team-mate, David Holwell, over the next few hours.

Steinmetz looks a strong chance to make his first Super 12 start on Saturday by taking the struggling Jason O'Halloran's spot in the Hurricanes for the match with the Cats in Bloemfontein.

But commonsense would suggest that if the strong-tackling Holwell does not recover enough from his Durban illness, then O'Halloran could keep his spot.

The huge close-in power of Cats' loose forwards Andre Venter, Rassie Erasmus and Andre Vos, coupled with the sharpest running halfback in the Super 12 in Chad Alcott, requires a strong Hurricane defence in close, so O'Halloran could stay in favour of the smaller Steinmetz and back-up first five-eighths Tanner Vili.

Holwell lasted just 20 minutes of last week's 21-39 loss to the Sharks before leaving the field with weakness resulting from the flu-type problem he has been suffering from.

So far he has lost 4.5kg, meaning he has a hard race on his hands to regain fitness before Saturday's match, which is at 1500m above sea level.

Other changes are likely to see Paul Tito regain his locking spot at the expense of Inoke Afeaki and Brad Fleming coming in on the right wing ahead of Daryl Lilley.

There also seems to be a slim chance of Brendan Haami taking over at halfback from Jason Spice, though Spice's strong defence could save him.

"It's a difficult game to make too many changes in," coach Graham Mourie said yesterday.

"[The Cats] have a very strong scrum and certainly the most physical forward pack in the competition."

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes rate equal second to worst in the yellow card stakes, and eighth worst in giving penalties away in the competition so far.

Most cards have been given away by the Sharks, but the Hurricanes and Bulls are next.

The Hurricanes are the only team to give away a yellow card in each game.

The next rated teams in the competition, the Brumbies and the Cats, have not given away a yellow during a match.

In the penalty stakes, the worst team are the Bulls with a 16.5 average per game. The best are the Waratahs with just 9.75.

The Hurricanes have given away 13 penalties a match - only the Sharks, the Blues, the Stormers and the Bulls are worse.

- NZPA