Super Rugby Round 16
Taylor hints at return to running game
May 28, 2013
The Hurricanes' Julian Savea fends the Crusaders' Israel Dagg, Hurricanes v Crusaders, Super Rugby, Westpac Stadium, Wellington, March 8, 2013
Julian Savea may see more of the ball this weekend if Andre Taylor's comments are reflected on the field © Getty Images
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Andre Taylor has hinted that the Hurricanes back three could return to what they know best - attacking with ball in hand - when they take on the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday night.

Mark Hammett's side has played a more structured attacking game this year with kicks for corners and territory replacing the dazzling counter-attacking that was synonymous with Taylor, Alapati Leiua and Julian Savea last year.

While the steadier game-plan has got the Hurricanes into good attacking positions, particularly when playing in wet conditions, errors in the opposition 22 has meant it hasn't always produced winning results.

Taylor also believes some of the players have been down on confidence in attack as well, which has compounded matters.

"I think it was hiding inside. Then all of a sudden one of the boys said 'look, we're not playing with confidence and we're not having fun' and that just woke everybody up," admitted Taylor, who has had a much quieter Super Rugby campaign this year than when he finished with 10 tries in a standout 2012 season.

"Now we've got that sort of feedback we can actually go out there and obviously have that fun. I think that was the big key."He added: "Last year we were just wanting to play. This year we're going on to more structure-type stuff. But we've had a talk about it and ... we'll play whatever options there are ahead of us and we'll see how we go from there. I think Jules [Julian Savea] wants to get running. He's a big boy," Taylor added grinning.

The Brumbies play a more territorial-type game themselves, built on the back of a hard-working pack that generally goes well at the set-piece. The Hurricanes, who are boosted by the return of Dane Coles and captain Conrad Smith, will need to match that fire up front.

"We're up against one of the best teams in the competition," coach Mark Hammett said. "There's a reason why they are up there. They are very accurate. They've got a hard-working forward pack and set-piece wise they are one of the best teams."

They also have a decent kicking game courtesy of fullback Jesse Mogg, fly-half Matt Toomua and scrum-half Nic White, although they are not without X-factor in Christian Lealiifano, Henry Speight and Joe Tomane.

"The thing is if you try and shut down one playmaker then there's another on and another one," Taylor said. "You've got to treat everyone the same and just try and shut down all their space and try not to let them get too much steam ahead. Hopefully we can reverse that, which will give us some momentum to go forward and actually show some quality attacking this year."

Hurricanes: Andre Taylor; Alapati Leiua, Conrad Smith, Reynold Lee-Lo, Julian Savea; Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara; Victor Vito, Jack Lam, Brad Shields; James Broadhurst, Jeremy Thrush; Ben May, Dane Coles, Ben Franks. Replacements: Ash Dixon, Reggie Goodes, Mark Reddish, Faifili Levave, Chris Smylie, Tusi Pisi, James Marshall.

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