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KEY POINTS:
The days of handbags pre-dawn are over. With Jerry Collins and Chris Masoe following in Tana Umaga's 2007 footsteps, there is a new-era feeling about the Hurricanes.
The imposing, all-All Blacks loose trio at the heart of the team in recent seasons is no more.
New blood abounds. Captain Rodney So'oialo remains the father figure in the pack. But Victor Vito should get his chance on the blindside, and newly minted All Black Scott Waldrom and Hawkes Bay fetcher Karl Lowe will battle for the openside job.
Elsewhere, livewire hooker Dane Coles will get an early run in the hooker's jersey as Andrew Hore finishes his rehabilitation from the ankle injury he suffered against the Wallabies in Hong Kong, and David Smith will challenge Hosea Gear and exciting youngster Zac Guildford for a wing berth.
There will be particular interest in the form of Gear, who blew apart the national championship with 14 tries for the Wellington Lions to earn a spot on the end-of-season All Blacks tour.
Gear, though, is yet to prove the same irresistible force at Super Rugby level, notching just 13 tries in 45 appearances over six seasons.
While the pack looks solid, and a back division that includes All Blacks centre pairing Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu is sure to be potent, the Hurricanes' fate will likely be determined by what happens at first five-eighths.
With Jimmy Gopperth among the stalwarts to have departed - lent and then transferred to North Harbour and the Blues - the Hurricanes will choose between Willie Ripia and Daniel Kirkpatrick at pivot.
That is, of course, unless Piri Weepu reprises his switch from halfback - a fallback option when Gopperth has floundered in recent seasons.
Ripia, who started out at Waikato before switching to Taranaki, is yet to prove fully convincing.
While he has shown glimpses of his undoubted ability, he will need to emerge as a fully finished article if the Hurricanes are to improve on the showings of recent seasons.
Likely to at least start as Ripia's back-up, Kirkpatrick is even more of an unknown quantity. The 20-year-old attracted rave reviews at age-grade level and was fast-tracked into the Wellington team last year. But his progress was initially halted by injury and coach Jamie Joseph eventually plumped for Weepu in the Lions' big games.
Changes on the personnel front aside, the Hurricanes are one of the more stable outfits in the competition. Coach Colin Cooper is in his seventh season at the helm, having guided the side to a respectable four semifinals and one final in his previous six seasons.
The side also has an extremely favourable draw.
Four of their first five games are at home, with the lone exception a trip to Christchurch to face the Crusaders in round three.
Following a mid-season three-match tour to South Africa and Perth, they have another run of three home games before ending the regular season away to the Chiefs and Reds.
Given such a favourable schedule, it's hard not to see the Hurricanes, who enter the tournament third in the betting, at least making the semifinals.
The biggest question appears to be whether a side from the capital can take the step up from Nearly Men to Champions.
In recent years, the answer to that question has always been no.
