Hurricanes squad members Jonah Lowe and Hugh Renton will headline the clubs Under 20s team when they play the Blues Under 20s at Evans Bay Park in Wellington on Saturday.

Though still uncapped in competition, the two Hawke's Bay players are both full members of the defending champion Hurricanes 2017 Investec Super Rugby squad.

Lowe has been impressive at centre throughout the Hurricanes preseason campaign, while Renton has seen extensive time at loose forward including at the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens.

Other Hurricanes Under 20s players who have pulled on the Hurricanes jersey during the team's preseason campaign are wing Malo Tuitama, halfback Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, lock Isaia Walker-Leawere and front rowers Alex Fidow and Asafo Aumua.

"It's very satisfying to have a large group of our Under 20s coming into the team's campaign with some experience at the next level up," Hurricanes recruitment and development manager Darren Larsen said. "It shows us that our talent ID programme is working well and hopefully it shows the other players that the pathway is there if they want to take it."

Larsen said it was also pleasing to see a good spread of talent across the Hurricanes three major provincial unions Wellington (12), Hawke's Bay (7) and Manawatu (5).

The Blues match represents the first of three matches for the Hurricanes Under 20s and Larsen said the programme was an important part of player development.

"Not only is it highly competitive because of the healthy rivalries that have developed among New Zealand's Investec Super Rugby clubs, but it also provides a taste of the sort of intensity they can expect at the next level.

"A lot of the New Zealand clubs have full squad members in their Under 20s group and those players bring back the knowledge in terms of preparation and professionalism they've gained and it rubs off on the rest of the group."

The matches also provide Larsen and Hurricanes General Manager High Performance Chris Stirling a chance to gauge the progress of the young men who have been identified as future Investec Super Rugby players.

"We see a lot of them in training and we have a lot of data in terms of their character and fitness levels, but the competitive environment of a match day is something you can't fully recreate on the training field."

The Hurricanes Under 20s team to play the Blues Under 20s at Evans Bay Park on Saturday, March 4 at 1pm: