All Blacks welfare protocols have forced the Hurricanes and Crusaders to field weakened teams and stripped the Super Rugby contest of some notable one-on-one duels with World Cup implications.
The Hurricanes have demoted three of their best players from last week’s 20-19 opening win over the Waratahs in Sydney.
Halfback TJ Perenara and inside centre Ngani Laumape are on the bench while flanker Ardie Savea is omitted altogether.
Despite facing the competition favourites on their home patch on Saturday, they have also left star playmaker Beauden Barrett on the sidelines for a second straight week.
While Savea has only a minor knee niggle, coach John Plumtree said it made sense to rest the dynamic No.7 as part of the delicate welfare requests from New Zealand Rugby to keep the players from burning out in World Cup year.
It has emerged that NZR don’t want any All Blacks to play more than 180 minutes across the first three games of the competition as part of their return to play protocol.
They were also not meant to play more than 60 minutes in the opening round although Plumtree was forced to transgress that rule with several players because of injuries elsewhere.
The Crusaders have named a relatively settled side, making just one starting change with All Blacks outside centre Jack Goodhue introduced for Braydon Ennor, who was a shining light in last week’s win over the Blues.
The defending champions are resting big-name All Blacks forwards Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock and Codie Taylor through the opening rounds.
The absences wipe out the tantalising prospect of some early-season World Cup “trial” clashes.
Barrett would have lined up against the man contending for his Test jersey, Crusaders playmaker Richie Mo’unga.
Likewise Laumape would have locked horns with Ryan Crotty in the midfield, Savea with Todd at flanker and Taylor with Hurricanes captain Dane Coles, who makes his first start at hooker.
“It’s not easy, but it’s something that is important,” Plumtree told journalists of the protocols.
“They all want to play in the jersey, they all want to play every week, but some players have longer seasons than others and our All Blacks are those guys, so we’ve got to be smart about it.”
CRUSADERS: David Havili, Manasa Mataele, Jack Goodhue, Ryan Crotty, George Bridge, Richie Mo’unga, Bryn Hall, Whetu Douglas, Matt Todd (capt), Jordan Taufua, Quinten Strange, Scott Barrett, Owen Franks, Andrew Makalio, Joe Moody. Res: Ben Funnell, Harry Allen, Michael Alaalatoa, Luke Romano, Tom Sanders, Mitchell Drummond, Mitchell Hunt, Braydon Ennor.
HURRICANES: Jordie Barrett, Wes Goosen, Matt Proctor, Vince Aso, Ben Lam, Fletcher Smith, Finlay Christie, Gareth Evans, Du’Plessis Kirifi, Reed Prinsep, Liam Mitchell, James Blackwell, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Dane Coles (capt), Chris Eves. Res: Ricky Riccitelli, Xavier Numia, Ben May, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Sam Henwood, TJ Perenara, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Ngani Laumape.
