Venue: Central Energy Trust Arena
Time: 08:35 CAT (SA, GMT+2)
Milner-Skudder dislocated his shoulder and is ruled out for the rest of the season. Bad news for the Canes
And the All Blacks. Naholo's injury sounds reoccurring sadly. Perhaps it's time to start investing in James Lowe.
I sensed the Force building some momentum vs the Brumbies, even though they lost in Perth. It wasn't a complete push over and a late try from the Brumbies lop sided the scoreboard a little. The Hurricanes will have to be careful, I wouldn't write off an upset here, given the lack of Hurricanes form who let's face it, were pretty lucky to win vs the Blues given some of the referee decisions and the injury to Skudder only further adds to their injury list.
I'm inclined to say the Force might pinch this one.
I agree, the Force has an opportunity here. The Canes has lost many key players. They aren't the unbeaten side of the last year
What I didn't know before I made that prediction was the that Coles was back from injury. He's a leader and one of the best 2's in the world and the Canes looked great with him back. I'm happy for them, also I feel Halaholo should be starting, he was a great impact sub, but the Canes need that sort of penetration in the first half against the better teams in the competition, also I was confused why Mafi did not start for the Force.
Anyhow encouraging signs for the Canes, they will have another bonus point win next week vs the Kings and they can go into the bye feeling a lot more confident and rested before travelling. Glad to see them finding their feet again, I appreciate the rugby they play.
I haven't watched the game yet. When I watch the game I'll give you my opinion. I didn't know that Coles came back for this game haha
Watch Halaholo closely, he really offered what Nonu was giving them last season, it was one of the reasons why the Hurricanes were such a force last year, that constant threat and breaking the line! He's surely got to be starting in the future for them. Lampaue and Aso haven't offered the same threat and it's shown in some of the Canes results.
Vince Aso should be dropped for Halaholo in my opinion. Vince is tackling at under 70% and is not threatening enough on attack to compensate for this, he has only made 84 metres this season, that's just not good enough. He's certainly the weak link in the midfield at the moment for the Canes. Ngani Lauampe is performing better defensively and offers far more on offense. I really would like to see Lauampe and Halaholo starting, I think you will see a huge improvement in the Canes with this combination, defensively and offensively.
I just watched the game and you are right, Halaholo is so exciting!!! Where the hell has been this guy??? He's 25 and I didn't know him!. He deserves a spot in the starting XV.
About the game, the Force's defence has been very good for 50 minutes. Then they were tired and the impact players of Canes did their work. The #15 of the Force (Haylett-Petty) is the worst fullback I ever seen in my life, he's soooo useless