Blues pin hopes on new weapon

The Blues believe they have found a new weapon for the Super 12 season.

Harbour number eight Nick Williams makes his Blues debut on Friday night, playing a pre-season game against the Hurricanes in Hastings.

Returning Blues halfback Steve Devine said he could not believe what he had seen from Williams in training.

He said his size and speed are unbelievable, and the rest of the team needs to get him the ball in space.

Devine believes Williams is destined to go all the way in football.

Meanwhile, Devine returns from a serious knee injury which ruled him out of rugby for almost a year, and he concedes he is a bit nervous.

He needs to put the knee under the full pressure of playing to restore his confidence.

Devine has never given up on playing for the All Blacks again and he realises he will have to work extra hard in the Super 12 to get back into contention.

The Hurricanes trio of Jerry Collins (neck), Riki Flutey (rib) and Luke Andrews (eye) will sit out the clash with the Blues because of injury problems.

Hurricanes management is hopeful the three of them will be right for next week's third and final pre-season game against the Brumbies.

Collins trained this week, but did not get involved in contact work.

- Newstalk ZB