Hurricanes keep winning formula

Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett decided to stick with the victorious line-up from their final tour match, against the Cheetahs, for Friday's Round 14 Super Rugby encounter with the Chiefs.

The Hurricanes returned to New Zealand, after a two-week trip to South Africa, to tackle New Zealand conference leaders, the Chiefs, in Wellington.

It will be the first time these two sides have met in competition this season, with the repeat local derby fixture in Hamilton set for after the June break.

Last year both the Hurricanes and Chiefs won one match each on their respective home grounds.

The teams had one pre-season match this year at Mangatainoka, where the Chiefs prevailed 25-21.

Loose forward Faifili Levave, who has played for both the Chiefs and the Hurricanes since his Super Rugby debut in 2008, will again start this week at blindside flank as he reaches the milestone of 50 caps for the Hurricanes.

Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Reynold Lee-Lo, 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito (captain), 7 Jack Lam, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Ben May, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Ben Franks.

Replacements: 16 Reggie Goodes, 17 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 18 James Broadhurst, 19 Brad Shields, 20 Chris Smylie, 21 Tusi Pisi, 22 James Marshall.

Date: Friday, May 17

Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Kick-off: 19.35 (07.35 GMT)

Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Garratt Williamson (New Zealand), Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri (New Zealand)

TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)