Manawatu loose forward Callum Gibbins will start at openside in one of three changes to the Hurricanes team named to play the Highlanders at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
 
Gibbins' first start of the season means Ardie Savea will play No.8 with Reed Prinsep moving to the reserves, while loose head prop Chris Eves and fullback Jordie Barrett come into the run-on side for the injured Loni Uhila and Nehe Milner-Skudder respectively.

Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd said Gibbins was always going to get a start early in the campaign.

"We were keen to give Callum a go, he's been really good for us over a number of years and brings some experience and so for us to shuffle Ardie to No.8 is not problematic in the way we play the game.

"The seven and the eight fulfill fairly similar roles, Ardie played No.8 for us straight out of school in the ITM Cup, he used to play 12 at Rongotai College so he's multi-talented as we know."

Boyd said it remained to be seen whether the loose trio named for the Highlanders match would become a regular combination. 

"It depends how long it is before Blade [Thompson] comes back [from injury]. I thought Reed [Prinsep] played particularly well in the last couple of games, he's probably at this stage more closely aligned to Brad [Shields] as a hard working, high work rate, physical blindside. So we're just looking at something slightly different in our combination."

Uhila (calf) and Milner-Skudder (fractured foot) were both injured during last weekend's 26-18 loss to the Chiefs in Hamilton.
  
There are four further changes in the Hurricanes reserves.
 
Lock Sam Lousi and halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi come into the match day 23 for the first time this season, while utility back Wes Goosen and prop Mike Kainga return to the fold after missing the cut against the Chiefs.
 
Lousi, who is set to make his Hurricanes debut, adds his considerable size at the expense of James Blackwell, while Tahuriorangi takes Chris Smylie's place as TJ Perenara's back up.
 
Goosen provides outside back cover as he did against the Sunwolves in Tokyo, while Kainga returns to the impact role he filled during the opening two rounds of the season.
 
The bench also features prop Ben May, who will make his 50th appearance for the Hurricanes should he take the field against the Highlanders.

The Hurricanes team to play the Highlanders at Westpac Stadium on March 18 is: