Hurricanes forwards Dane Coles and Blade Thomson will return from their respective injuries via the bench when they play the Crusaders at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday night.
Coles has been troubled by an elbow complaint and wasn't expected to be right until next weekend but the All Black hooker has made swift progress recently, which has pushed him along. He last played in round five against the Blues in March.
"His recovery's been really good and he's been training pretty much full on with us for the last couple of weeks," Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said. "So those in the medical fraternity have deemed that he's right to come on to the bench."
Thomson has been limited due to lingering concussion symptoms and hasn't played since the round six victory over the Highlanders but will provide lock/loose forward cover this weekend.
"Blade's a quality footballer. We've been pretty cautious, as most people are around concussion at the moment, and he's probably taken a week, or maybe even two, longer to come back but he's raring to go and he'll offer good impact off the bench," Boyd said.
