Piri Weepu returns for Hurricanes
Piri Weepu returns to the Hurricanes’ starting line-up for Friday’s crunch Super 14 clash with the Reds in Wellington.
But a calf injury suffered during training on Wednesday means impressive blindside flanker Victor Vito will sit out the duel with their fellow finals contenders.
Vito’s injury is expected to sideline him for a week and the reshuffled pack now sees Michael Paterson on the blindside and Jeremy Thrush at lock, while coach Colin Cooper had already handed Jacob Ellison at start at loosehead prop in place of John Schwalger.
Centre Conrad Smith also remains in doubt for Rodney So’oialo’s 100th Super Rugby match despite getting through training on Wednesday.
“It was my first run round today. It didn’t feel too bad. I got through all right. I’m just going to see the Doc this afternoon and try and make a call,” the midfielder said.
“It’s a difficult decision because you don’t know if you’re over-thinking. You don’t know what’s going on. It’s not a nice feeling.
“A lot of players have it unfortunately. It’s not an enjoyable couple of days but hopefully I’ll get through it and play either this weekend or the weekend after.”
Cooper said a final decision would be made at the captain’s run and if Smith was ruled out Jason Kawau would come in.
Weepu’s promotion to the starting XV, after spending the last couple of weeks behind Tyson Keats in the pecking order, was largely based around the All Black half-back’s goal kicking skills and the type of game the Hurricanes wanted to play against the Reds.
“(Tyson’s) done nothing wrong. He’s played really well,” said Cooper.
“We’ve decided for this game to take the pressure off the young fella and bring a goal kicker in. And Piri suits the way we are trying to play the game.”
Weepu, who has been doing plenty of hard graft in the gym, admitted the past few weeks had been tough.
“I’ve kept my head down and my arse up and just done the hard work to make sure I got myself back into the starting line-up,” the 35-Test All Black said.
“Keats has been playing really well and been putting a lot of pressure on the coaches and on me.
“He deserves his chances and obviously I’ve been given the chance to start and hopefully I do a good job on Friday night.”
Despite the lack of game time in recent weeks and the form of Alby Mathewson and Kahn Fotuali’i, Weepu said he had not given up on his All Blacks ambitions.
“I guess everyone always has that burning desire to wear the black jersey. That’s a big goal but at the moment you’ve got to take it week by week and at this stage I’ve got to take it game by game,” he added.
“There’s two weeks to go and hopefully these two week go good for us and we’ll have another one or two weeks to go after that.
“I’m just trying to push my case here and be happy with the end result before the competition finishes.”
Hurricanes: 15 Cory Jane, 14 Tamati Ellison, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So’oialo, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 Bryn Evans, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore (c), 1 Jacob Ellison.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 John Schwalger, 18 Nick Crosswell, 19 Scott Waldrom, 20 Tyson Keats, 21 Jason Kawau/Willie Ripia, 22 David Smith.
Date: Friday, May 7
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 19:35 (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Keith Brown (New Zealand), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
TMO: Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
[Info from Planet Rugby]
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