The Hurricanes and Chiefs have both named their matchday sides for the exciting top of the Log derby between the 2 sides on Saturday.

On the Hurricanes side, the centre combination of Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith will run out for their joint 50 game together as centre pairing and in addition prop Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen will run out for his 50th cap for the Hurricanes. On the Chiefs side, Sonny Bill Williams will have aspirations to counter and defeat the strong Canes midfield, in a bid to stake his All Blacks starting place for the World Cup and Hosea Gear is back on the right wing for the important clash. The Chiefs will also start with young Damian McKenzie at flyhalf.

Hurricanes:

2 Milestones will be celebrated when the Hurricanes take on the Chiefs in a Super Rugby crunch match in Wellington on Saturday.

Reserve prop Jeffery Toomaga-Allen will run on for his 50th Hurricanes match, should he take the field.

Toomaga-Allen made his debut for the Hurricanes against the Stormers in Cape Town in 2012, and has played in 8 of the team’s matches so far this season – after returning from a knee injury suffered in 2014.

However, an even bigger celebration will be when Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu run out for their 50th match as a midfield pair.

Nonu and Smith 1st combined against the Western Force in New Plymouth on 18 February 2006.

They were the 22nd midfield combination to take the field for the Hurricanes, and there have been a further 21 different combinations since.

The next highest pairing for the Hurricanes was Alama Ieremia and Jason O’Halloran, who had 28 starts together.

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd is sticking with a similar line-up to face the Chiefs this weekend.

However, Julian Savea and TJ Perenara return to the team, with Dane Coles coming back onto the bench.

Hurricanes: 15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith (Captain), 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 James Marshall, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Brad Shields, 5 James Broadhurst, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Motu Matu’u, 1 Reggie Goodes
Replacements: 16. Dane Coles, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 19 Mark Abbott / Callum Gibbins, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Otere Black, 23 Rey Lee-Lo.

Chiefs:

The Chiefs team to play against the Hurricanes on Saturday sees the experienced All Black and former Hurricane, Hosea Gear, back into the frame for the Waikato outfit.

Ahead of one of the most anticipated matches this season, Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said: “The Hurricanes are the form team of the competition.

“They are a team full of experienced players and have combinations that have played together for a number of seasons. They have been consistent and played some great footy.”

Heavyweight Gear will line-up against Julian Savea, which will be yet another mouth-watering head-to-head in the battle taking place in Hamilton. Other match-ups to look out for will be Sonny-Bill Williams clashing with Ma’a Nonu, and flank super-stars Liam Messam vs Victor Vito.

“A win to the Hurricanes will probably see them seal the conference and if we win, we will pull them back towards the pack, so it is a big day for both sides,” added Rennie.

Changes to the side see lock Michael Allardice get his 1st start of the season and Damian McKenzie getting the nod in the No 10 jersey, while Gear takes over the duties on the right wing.

Mitchell Graham, Liam Squire and Maama Vaipulu all come onto the replacements bench along with Andrew Horrell.

Chiefs: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Hosea Gear, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 James Lowe, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam (Captain), 5 Mike Fitzgerald, 4 Michael Allardice, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Pauliasi Manu
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Siate Tokolahi, 18 Mitchell Graham, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Maama Vaipulu, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Andrew Horrell, 23 Bryce Heem.

Date: Saturday 16 May
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-Off: 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 17:35 AEST, 07:35 GMT)
Referee: Glen Jackson
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe, Aki Aso
TMO: Vinny Munro