The Highlanders have called on the electric Folau Fakatava to step up in the absence of Aaron Smith for their tricky round seven clash in Dunedin against the Hurricanes on Saturday.
The recently capped All Black will start at scrum-half, with Smith unavailable due to family reasons.
Door opened
It sets up a great opportunity for Fakatava, who looked exciting off the bench against Moana Pasifika last weekend and has a chance to put himself in a good position for a ticket to the World Cup in France later this year.
Highlanders head coach Clarke Dermody sees it as a positive challenge for the scrum-half and is interested to see how he goes from the start of the game.
“He’s been playing well off the bench, and so it’s a good challenge for him now to start a game and help set it up for the team,” Dermody said.
“The game’s obviously a bit different at the start. That space is probably not quite there, that he’s been finding at the end of the game.
“It’s a good challenge for him to be able to set the game up and then hopefully those holes open up for [replacement halfback] Jimmy Arscott.”
Alongside Fakatava in the half-back pairing is fly-half Mitch Hunt whilst Thomas Umaga-Jensen and Fetuli Paea partner in the midfield.
The competition’s top point-scorer Sam Gilbert starts at full-back with wings Mosese Dawai and Jonah Lowe completing the back-three.
Meanwhile, in the pack, the in-form Hugh Renton starts at the back of the scrum with captain Billy Harmon and Shannon Frizzell completing the loose trio.
In the second-row, the robust Pari Pari Parkinson partners Josh Dickson whilst at the coal face Jermaine Ainsley, Andrew Makalio and Ethan de Groot make up the front-row.
On the bench, Leni Apisai, Daniel Lienert-Brown and Saula Ma’u are the front-row options, whilst Max Hicks and Sean Withy make up the remaining forward cover.
James Arscott, Scott Gregory and Marino Mikaele-Tu’u are the backline replacements.
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Dermody is proud of how the team has rallied over the last couple of games after what was a poor start to the season.
“I think we’ve put ourselves in a position in the last three weeks to actually play some rugby we’ve been proud of,” Dermody said.
“So I think that’s probably the first thing we understand. Playing the Hurricanes is going to be a step up from where we’ve been, but we’ve experienced that and hopefully we’ve learnt from the start of the season. How much we’ve learnt, I guess we’ll soon find out.”
The team
Highlanders: 15 Sam Gilbert, 14 Mosese Dawai, 13 Fetuli Paea, 12 Thomas Umaga-Jensen, 11 Jonah Lowe, 10 Mitch Hunt, 9 Folau Fakatava, 8 Hugh Renton, 7 Billy Harmon (c), 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Josh Dickson, 4 Pari Pari Parkinson, 3 Jermaine Ainsley, 2 Andrew Makalio, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements:: 16 Leni Apisai, 17 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 18 Saula Ma’u, 19 Max Hicks, 20 Sean Withy, 21 James Arscott, 22 Scott Gregory, 23 Marino Mikaele-Tu’u
Date: Saturday April 8
Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Kick-off: 19:05 local (08:05 BST, 07:05 GMT)
Referee: Damon Murphy (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Angus Mabey (New Zealand), Marcus Playle (New Zealand)
TMO: TBC