Canes drop out-of-shape Savea, Read

Star All Blacks wing Julian Savea has been dropped by the Wellington Hurricanes for Friday's Super Rugby clash with the Southern Kings amid suggestions he is out of shape.

The giant wing has been criticised for his recent performances with the Hurricanes and has not even made the bench for the match at the Westpac Stadium.

"It would be fair to say in that month or six weeks post the World Cup, that he probably wasn't as disciplined as he could've been around keeping up some of his work," Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said.

"He would be the first person to say that he hasn't been in vintage form, but it's a long season and we've seen touches of what's coming."

It is not the first time that Savea's fitness has been an issue. He was described as "overweight" and benched at the start of the international season last year by All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.

With the Hurricanes having a bye after this weekend, Savea has until April 9 to regain the sort of form that set the World Cup alight and saw him score three tries against France in the quarter-final.
The Canterbury Crusaders, meanwhile, are aiming to roll out the big guns in Durban, including the return of new All Blacks captain and back-row forward Kieran Read, as they attempt to snap the Coastal Sharks' unbeaten start to the Super Rugby season.

Their star-laden pack contains seven All Blacks, six of whom were in the victorious 2015 World Cup side.

The Sharks were held to a draw by the Northern Bulls last weekend but remain the only unbeaten side going into round five.

- All Black pack attack -

They no longer have Springbok front-rowers Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis to call on and fly-half Patrick Lambie is out injured. The Sharks were also beaten 52-10 by the Crusaders last year.

The New Zealand side are likely to be at full strength after Read and fellow All Blacks Joe Moody and Codie Taylor were rested for last week's game against the Kings, while Matt Todd came off the bench.

"One of the things we are mindful with selection is putting the best team on the field for this weekend's game," Crusaders assistant coach Tabai Matson said about reassembling the Test-hardened pack, which also includes Owen Franks, Luke Romano and Sam Whitelock.
The Western Stormers, having inflicted the first defeat of the year on the ACT Brumbies last week, head to Buenos Aires to play the Jaguares with forwards coach Russell Winter demanding his pack use their heads as well as their muscle.

"We have got some good brains in the team so there are some little things that we like to bring and add, but it only works with buy-in from the players," he said.

The Brumbies can be expected to bounce back from their loss to the Stormers when they play the Central Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

Ita Vaea and Robbie Coleman both return from injury to start in place of Jarrad Butler and Henry Speight, who are now on the injured roster.

The Otago Highlanders have been doing some serious self-analysis for their match with the Melbourne Rebels after they nearly threw away a 30-0 lead before scraping home 30-26 against the NSW Waratahs last week.

The Rebels are proving to be the surprise package in the Australian conference and are second to the Brumbies only on points differential.

The Waratahs, meanwhile, head to Brisbane to play the winless Queensland Reds, while the Chiefs return from Argentina to host the Western Force.

The Sunwolves round out the weekend by returning to their second home of Singapore to play the Northern Bulls.
Source: AFP