The Highlanders, Crusaders and Blues have named their squads for this weekend’s warm-up games in preparation for Super Rugby 2014.
The Highlanders have added Clarke Dermody to boost their prop stocks.
The Crusaders coach, Todd Blackadder, has named a new-look 30-=man squad to face the Highlanders on the weekend, including some players who have never played Super Rugby.
Sir John Kirwan has named his squad to face the Waratahs, once again Benji Marshall gets the nod at flyhalf.
Highlanders:
The Highlanders have turned to retired All Black Clarke Dermody to improve their scrumming.
Dermody, who was forced to retire in 2012 as a result of a back injury, played for every New Zealand age-group team before going on to play three Tests for the All Blacks in 2006.
The former Southland captain, who played 90 games for the Stags, is back with the Highlanders – working as the scrum coach for the franchise.
The Otago Daily Times reports that Dermody, who played 44 games for the franchise from 2004 to 2007, takes over as scrum coach from fellow All Black Kees Meeuws, who resigned last year.
Dermody (33) is an experienced player who was part of a strong Highlanders scrum along with the likes of Carl Hayman and Anton Oliver in the mid 2000s and also had a stint in the Engolish Premiership before his retirement.
He had helped out with the Southland NPC side last year and Highlanders general manager Roger Clark said Dermody was keen to get involved and the franchise wanted to use his experience.
His part-time appointment was only temporary and would be reviewed in a month or two.
Meanwhile Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph named his starting team to play in the Crusaders in their second Super Rugby pre-season match.
The Highlanders beat the Brumbies 15-11 in Queenstown last week, while the Crusaders beat a development side 67-5 last Friday.
The Highlanders take on the Waratahs next Friday in Newcastle in what will be their final pre-season game.
The non-travelling squad members are Nasi Manu, Shane Christie, Liam Coltman, Tom Franklin, Craig Millar, Aaron Smith, Ben Smith, Buxton Popoalii.
Highlanders: 15 Kurt Baker, 14 Patrick Osborne, 13 Jason Emery, 12 Phil Burleigh, 11 Malakai Fekitoa, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Frae Wilson, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 John Hardie, 6 Gareth Evans, 5 Josh Bekhuis, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Ma’afu Fia, 2 Braydon Mitchell, 1 Chris King.
Replacements: TBC
Date: Friday 7 February
Venue: Motueka Sports Ground, Motueka
Kick-off: 17:30 (04:30 GMT)
Referee: Garratt Williamsonx
Crusaders:
Crusaders Head Coach Todd Blackadder has named a 30-strong squad to play the Highlanders in a Super Rugby warm up and has included a number of players who have never played in a Super Rugby level game.
The Crusaders will head to Motueka tomorrow morning to prepare for their pre-season match against the Highlanders on Friday evening. They will also take the opportunity to connect with some of their Tasman supporters while they are there.
“This is a great chance for some of our newer players and wider training group to get a run against another Super Rugby team. There are also some of our most experienced players in the squad though so we will certainly be looking to be competitive on Friday and give our Tasman supporters something to cheer for,” Blackadder said.
The Crusaders arrive in Motueka on Thursday morning and will be visiting the Te Awhina Marae at 11am to mark Waitangi Day and meet some of the local community. Some members of the squad will then go over to Kaiteriteri on Thursday evening for a beach BBQ to mix with locals and holidaymakers there.
On Friday morning, the players not required for the game will be running a ‘Crusaders Pit-stop’ on Main Road Riwaka (outside the Riwaka Hotel), where they will be offering refreshments, window cleaning and autographs to passing motorists in return for donations that will go towards junior rugby in the area.
The Super Rugby warm up match kicks off at 5:30pm at the Motueka Sports Ground, and the game will be played in 20 minute quarters with 2 minute water breaks and a 10 minute halftime.
Crusaders: 1 Tim Perry, 2 Ben Funnell, 3 Nepo Laulala, 4 Luke Romano, 5 Dominic Bird, 6 George Whitelock, 7 Jed Brown, 8 Jordan Taufua, 9 Andy Ellis, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal, 11 Nafi Tuitavake, 12 Ryan Crotty (Captain), 13 Reynold Lee-Lo, 14 Rob Thompson, 15 Israel Dagg
Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Owen Franks, 19 Joel Everson, 20 Matt Todd, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 Colin Slade, 23 Kieron Fonotia, Samuel Whitelock, Tom Taylor, Adam Whitelock, Zac Guildford, Mitchell Drummond, Corey Flynn, Daniel Lienert Brown.
Blues:
Blues coach Sir John Kirwan has named a trio of All Blacks in his Super Rugby warm up team to take on the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Friday night.
Barnstorming wing Frank Halai will start on the right flank, while livewires Francis Saili and Charles Piutau will both come off the bench in the second half.
“Frank’s been with us for three weeks now so he’s transitioned right in and will be starting and playing 40 minutes,” Blues head coach Sir John Kirwan confirmed.
“Francis Saili will be playing 20 minutes and so will Charles Piutau so we’re looking to transition the All Blacks back in. The hard thing for them is they’ve been away while the other boys have had six weeks of training in their legs. Those two have come in really fit and are ready to go but we just need to make sure that we protect them early.”
Former All Black lock Tom Donnelly will pull on the Blues jersey for the first time, joining an ever-improving Liaki Moli in the second row, while captain Luke Braid will get his first opportunity to lead the side this year at openside flanker.
“Tom’s been great for us, we wanted to buy experience and someone who loves studying lineouts and he’s certainly delivered that,” Kirwan said.
“I’m not really looking for him to do too much this week, just get out there and nail off his core roles and get a game under his belt.
“We kept him out of the first game because he doesn’t need to play. He’s got the experience so he’s a guy that just needs to play himself into getting ready for Super Rugby.”
High profile signing Benji Marshall will again wear the number 10 jersey for the Blues, and while there is considerable hype around his return to Sydney where he played for the Wests Tigers for 10 years, Kirwan said Marshall was taking it all in his stride.
“This weekend’s a little bit about Benji going back to Sydney, everyone’s saying it’s a big week for him but he loves big weeks so for us it’s just getting him out there.
“He’s had his first game so it would be nice to get him back out there with a bit more pressure on and just say ‘go for it, get into it and enjoy it’. Last week was a good start and this week we just want him to keep building on it.”
Promising Wider Training Group first five-eighths Simon Hickey has been named on the bench alongside Chris Noakes who will make his first appearance since undergoing neck surgery in the off-season.
“Noakesy’s been great but we’ve been taking it gently with him. He’s a little bit like Tom Donnelly in that he doesn’t need to prove anything to us, we just need to make sure he’s well first. He’ll get out in the second half and he needs to get into contact and just play footy which he’s ready to do.”
Kirwan said he was looking for his side to build on last week’s performance against the Hurricanes.
“As far as the Waratahs are concerned we’re not going to worry about them, for us we just want improvements in the systems so we want a better understanding and a better execution this week.
“It’s just about building towards the season. We don’t want to see everything just yet. The good thing about last week was the stuff that we hadn’t trained too hard on was not evident and the stuff we had been training on was so we just need to make sure that we keep building.”
Blues: 1 Sam Prattley, 2 James Parsons, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 4 Liaki Moli, 5 Tom Donnelly, 6 Kane Barrett, 7 Luke Braid, 8 Peter Saili, 9 Bryn Hall, 10 Benji Marshall, 11 Tevita Li, 12 Jackson Willison, 13 George Moala, 14 Frank Halai, 15 Albert Nikoro
Replacements: Greg Pleasants-Tate, Tom McCartney, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, William Lloyd, Patrick Tuipulotu, Jordan Manihera, Brendon O’Connor, Sonatane Takulua, Chris Noakes, Simon Hickey, Francis Saili, Lolagi Visinia, Baden Kerr, Charles Piutau.