Sky Live: Brumbies v Hurricanes Super Rugby quarter-final preview

The Hurricanes have welcomed back All Blacks pair Beauden Barrett and Dane Coles into their squad for their Super Rugby quarter-final clash against the Brumbies on Friday, live on Sky Sports Action from 10.30am.

Flyhalf Barrett returns to Chris Boyd's side at GIO Stadium in Canberra after missing the last match of the regular season against the Crusaders with a sinus infection.

Hooker Coles returns to the bench after a four-month battle with concussion which caused him to miss the entirety of the British and Irish Lions' series with New Zealand.

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The Hurricanes beat the Crusaders 31-22 to hand the Christchurch side its first loss of the season in the last regular-season round.

Barrett's replacement against the Crusaders, Otere Black, moves to the reserves, but the rest of the Hurricanes backline remains unchanged.

Jordie Barrett will again start at centre with Vince Aso ruled out for a second match due to a groin strain.

Boyd said his team won't pay a lot of attention to its 56-21 home victory over the Brumbies in the ninth round, and noted the Canberra-based team has a good record in playoff matches at home.

"The Brumbies are a quality side and we're not reading anything into their results this season," Boyd said. "They have a proven record in Super Rugby over a long period and will be hard to beat at home."

The Brumbies finished the regular season atop the underperforming Australian conference with a record of six wins and nine losses. Overall, the Hurricanes have played the Brumbies 23 times in Super Rugby, registering 10 wins and 13 losses.

But the Brumbies have lost 10 games in a row to New Zealand teams.

On Tuesday, Christian Leali'ifano was selected on the reserves bench for the Brumbies less than a year after being diagnosed with leukemia.

The 19-test Wallaby was diagnosed last August with leukemia and had chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant late last year. He was told in February that he was in remission.

Lineups:

ACT Brumbies: 15 Tom Banks, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Andrew Smith, 11 James Dargaville, 10 Wharenui Hawera, 9 Joe Powell; 1 Scott Sio, 2 Josh Mann-Rea, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 4 Rory Arnold, 5 Sam Carter (captain), 6 Scott Fardy, 7 Chris Alcock, 8 Jordan Smiler.

Replacements: 16 Robbie Abel, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Leslie Leuluaialii-Makin, 19 Blake Enever, 20 Jarrad Butler, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Jordan Jackson-Hope, 23 Christian Leali'ifano.

Hurricanes: 15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Jordie Barrett, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 T.J. Perenara (captain); 1 Ben May, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 3 Jeff To'omaga-Allen, 4 Mark Abbott, 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Vaea Fifita, 7 Ardie Savea, 8 Brad Shields.

Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Loni Uhila, 19 Reed Prinsep, 20 Callum Gibbins, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Otere Black, 23 Cory Jane.