All Blacks star Ardie Savea returns to the Hurricanes starting line-up to face the Crusaders for their Super Rugby Aotearoa clash at Sky Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Savea will slot in a No.8, replacing Gareth Evans, who has been named on the bench.
Last week, Savea came off the bench during the Hurricanes' 30-20 defeat to the Blues in his first rugby match since the Rugby World Cup last year, after undergoing knee surgery at the end of 2019.
The change is one of two made by coach Jason Holland, with Vaea Fifita starting a lock and Scott Scrafton moving back to the bench.
Two further changes on the bench see prop Ben May and wing Kobus Van Wyk joining the reserves.
The rest of the team is unchanged, with Jordie Barrett sitting out the match with a shoulder injury.
Barrett sustained the injury in the lead-up to the Blues clash and was given a 50-50 chance of facing the Crusaders, but hasn't recovered in time.
"We don't want to risk him," says Holland. "He probably could play, but the boys want to give him another week and ensure he's 100 percent for the Chiefs game after the bye."
Chase Tiatia will remain at fullback, with Jackson Garden-Bachop resuming playmaking duties.
Hurricanes: 1-Fraser Armstrong, 2-Dane Coles (cc), 3-Tyrel Lomax, 4-James Blackwell, 5-Vaea Fifita, 6-Reed Prinsep, 7-Du'Plessis Kirifi, 8-Ardie Savea, 9-TJ Perenara (cc), 10-Jackson Garden-Bachop, 11-Ben Lam, 12-Ngani Laumape, 13-Vince Aso, 14-Wes Goosen, 15-Chase Tiatia
Reserves: 16-Asafo Aumua, 17-Ben May, 18-Alex Fidow, 19-Scott Scrafton, 20-Gareth Evans, 21-Jamie Booth, 22-Billy Proctor, 23-Kobus Van Wyk
Join us at 3pm Sunday for live updates of the Hurricanes v Crusaders Super Rugby Aotearoa clash.
