Loni Uhila has shown what he can do off the bench.
Now the Waikato and Hurricanes prop, known as the Tongan Bear, will test himself from the get-go against a top scrummager in the Sharks' tighthead prop Coenie Oosthuizen. This follows the decision to rule out Reggie Goodes with concussion from the win over the Crusaders last weekend, which helped confirm the Hurricanes' top billing.
The Hurricanes have made three changes to the starting XV - Matt Proctor replaces the out of sorts Julian Savea. Jason Woodward moves to the wing, and Ben May and Uhila into the front-row.
While Uhila was a wrecking ball with possession, it was his shoring up of the creaking Hurricanes' scrum after early damage from the Crusaders that probably won him the nod for this crunch match.
"Sometimes a guy who deserves a spot, like Loni, who's played really well for us, we feel he's given us good impact off the bench," coach Chris Boyd said. He is expecting the Sharks to scrum, and try to blow them away at the breakdown, as they did in May in Durban.
