Nine Hawke's Bay players, including seven from Hastings Boys' High School, have been selected in the Hurricanes under-18 team to play their Crusaders counterparts in Wellington tomorrow night.
It's no surprise Hastings Boys, the country's No 1 secondary schools team which has won all 14 of their games to date this season including five Super 8 fixtures, has the biggest representation in the team. Feilding High School has the next biggest with four.
Nor is it a surprise that all seven Hastings players, fullback Danny Toala, winger Dennon Robinson, first five-eighth Lincoln McClutchie, halfback Folau Fakatava, No 8 Devan Flanders, captain and hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes and prop Josiah Mecalfe will start.
Napier Boys' High School captain and blindside flanker Josh Bokser will also start for the hosts and his vice-captain, halfback Humphrey Sheild, is likely to get game time off the subs bench. The 23-strong Hurricanes squad was selected from a 58-strong training squad which completed a five-day development camp in Masterton yesterday.
Hurricanes under-18 head coach Darren Larsen said it had been incredibly difficult to select the 23.