By Andrew VoermanNAFI TUITAVAKE will have Julian Savea’s “powerful palm” on his mind when the Crusaders take on the Hur-ricanes at AMI Stadium tonight.

The Crusaders wing hopes he won’t find himself laid out by a fend from the incumbent All Black, but said he will be ready to deal with whatever is thrown at him.

“Coming against the best you’ve just got to be on your game, and don’t play too much in your head,” he said.

Tuitavake will be responsible for marking Savea, who he said was a great player. Stopping Savea from scoring will be crucial to the chances of the Crusaders winning, he said.

Savea has only scored once this season, but that is still one more than any of the Crusaders’ back three.

Tuitavake said finding an answer to their backline woes was a matter of adding things together week by week.

“We’re working on just keeping the ball and trying to focus on some quick ball for the backs to play with,” he said, “We’re not trying to think too much, just get out there and do.”

In spite of the Hurricanes being the one New Zealand side to have had a worse start than the Crusaders, Tuitavake know this won’t be an easy win for the home team.

“No doubt the Canes will be rear-ing to go. They’ve got nothing to lose, and we won’t be taking them for granted,” he said.

Tuitavake, younger brother of for-mer All Black Anthony, will be mak-

ing his fourth start for the Crusaders.He said there won’t be any nerves,

unlike the last time he ran out on AMI Stadium, making his debut in round two against the Chiefs.

“Everyone’s made me feel so wel-come. Everyone’s just been real good and it feels like a good family,” he

said.Tonight’s game is captain Kieran

Read’s 100th, and luckily he will get to celebrate it at home, with this the Crusaders’ only game at AMI Stadi-um in an eight-week stretch.

Coach Todd Blackadder said the occasion would be really special for

Read and the team.“He flies under the radar, but prob-

ably what you’ve seen these last cou-ple of years is he’s really bringing that leadership. He’s still got a lot of poten-tial and a lot of ability and it’s going to be really exciting for him,” he said.

Blackadder also added his voice

to the growing chorus criticising scrums, calling them a blight on the game.

“It’s just reset, reset, reset, isn’t it,” he said.

Asked whether he had considered getting behind the scrum machine to see what it feels like, Blackadder de-murred.

“I look at the scrums now and think we must have played in the golden age,” he said.

The Crusaders have named the same starting lineup for the first time this season.

The only change from the side that beat the Rebels 25-19 in Melbourne a fortnight ago comes on the bench, where prop Tim Perry has a ham-string strain, so has been replaced by Daniel Lienert-Brown,

Teams:Crusaders – Wyatt Crockett, Ben Fun-

nell, Owen Franks, Luke Romano, Sam Whitelock, Luke Whitelock, Matt Todd, Kieran Read (c), Andy Ellis, Colin Slade, Johnny McNicholl, Tom Taylor, Ryan Crotty, Nafi Tuitavake, Israel Dagg. Re-serves: Codie Taylor, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Nepo Laulala, Dominic Bird, Jor-dan Taufua, Mitchell Drummond, Kieron Fonotia, Nemani Nadolo

Hurricanes – Ben Franks, Dane Coles, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Jeremy Thrush, James Broadhurst, Faifili Levave, Jack Lam, Blade Thomson, TJ Perenara, Beauden Barret, Julian Savea, Tim Bate-man, Conrad Smith (c), Alapati Leiua, Andre Taylor. Reserves: Ash Dixon, Chris Eves, John Schwalger, Mark Red-dish, Ardie Savea, Billy Guyton, Matt Proctor, Marty Banks.

•Chris Rattue, p30; Super Rugby, p31

Winging it against the Hurricanes

CLASH:

ƌƵƐĂĚĞƌEĂĮdƵŝƚĂǀĂŬĞ;ůĞŌͿwill go head-to-head with Hurricane wing Julian Savea. PHOTOS: MARTIN HUNTER AND HAGEN HOPKINS