Super Rugby Pacific: The bizarre story behind Raymond Tuputupu's Hurricanes debut against Highlanders

New Hurricanes hooker Raymond Tuputupu in action for Freyberg Rugby Club. Photo / Supplied

The 2022 Super Rugby season continues to be bizarre.

Following relocation to the South Island in an unsuccessful bid to avoid having the season disrupted by Covid-19, teams have returned home to continue their campaigns in familiar settings.

But that doesn't make them immune to strange changes. For the Hurricanes, their clash against the Highlanders in Wellington on Saturday served up more than a few curveballs for coach Jason Holland.

Having named his side earlier in the week, Holland was forced to withdraw halfback Jamie Booth due to a knee niggle, while hooker Asafo Aumua was scratched on game day for an undisclosed reason.

The two withdrawals were going to test the depth of the squad, with Logan Henry called in to take the backup halfback role with TJ Perenara and Cam Roigard already out, and Raymond Tuputupu called in as backup at hooker with Dane Coles and James O'Reilly unavailable.

Both players were making their Super Rugby debut and Tuputupu – uncapped at provincial level - wasn't even with the squad the morning of the game.

"It was bizarre," Hurricanes fullback Jordie Barrett recalled to Newstalk ZB's Jason Pine. "We got a couple of texts about 9 in the morning for various changes. Then around lunchtime, Ray, the young 18-year-old hooker from Manawatu who hasn't played a game at provincial level yet – he got a call about midday saying he's on the bench for the Hurricanes.

"So, he got in his car and drove down in the afternoon and met the boys about two or three o'clock. It was a bizarre way to have your first Super Rugby game. It was certainly disrupted prep, but we tried to use that to galvanize the group."

The Hurricanes ended up with four players on debut, with Henry and Tuputupu alongside starters Siua Maile (hooker) and Caleb Delany (lock).

The disruptions might have had an impact on the overall performance of the team, but they were able to win the battle up front against the Highlanders and ultimately win the game.

"It was a gutsy win, four guys on debut, Logan Henry scoring as well – hopefully it adds plenty of depth to our ranks," Barrett said.

Maile played 76 minutes on debut, while Delany got 65 under his belt. Henry was brought into the game for the final 15 minutes - and scored a try with one of his first touches - while Tuputupu played the final five minutes.

Booth's knee injury is not expected to keep him sidelined for too long, while Aumua's situation was not addressed in detail by Holland during the post-match press conference. The coach was full of praise of the way the young players came into the team at short notice.

"Raymond, the reserve hooker we pulled in this morning – he got to us at 3 o'clock today and was rapidly trying to learn lineout calls," Holland said. "And Siua, who went in to start, had an unbelievable game at hooker.

"The guys stood up. It's a bit of adapting to what's thrown at us, and the boys are doing it well...we've got lots of guys we are really confident can do a job for us and we saw that tonight with all of them.

"It's good to confirm what we already know – that we've got a good squad who can all get a job done for us."