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Cape Town - Saturday's Super Rugby final against the Lions in Wellington will be a momentous occasion
for veteran Hurricanes wing Cory Jane.
The 33-year-old, who has made more
than 100 appearances for the Hurricanes,
is set to play in his first final after missing
last year's playoff campaign through injury.
The Hurricanes' first appearance in a final
happened in 2006 which was a year
before Jane's debut for the Wellington-based franchise so Jane is excited by the prospect
of this weekend's encounter at Westpa
c Stadium.
"Hopefully I still get picked," Jane told
Fairfax Media.
That he will be in the Hurricanes' matchday
squad is a given as Jane has done well
throughout their campaign. Apart from
impressing in doing his usual wing duties,
he has been at the forefront of his team's
defensive effort with his communication skills playing a key role.
That has had the desired results
as it has been 221 minutes since the
Hurricanes conceded a try.
"When the team talk about John [Plumtree] - obviously he's our defensive coach -
and when the paper or TV talk about
how well he's doing I get a little bit of
satisfaction there too, because I'm
behind the scenes helping him out
there as well," added Jane, who is off
to Japan after signing a two-year contract
with Toshiba although he will return to the Hurricanes in 2017.
"We changed our defensive structure
from what it was last year and even [from] game one [this season] to what it is now.
[We're] slowly getting better and better
at it and I think the boys are believing in it too, which is cool.
"Teams are trying to unlock it and when we
don't quite get it right teams can put points
on us. But at the moment the boys are
working hard for each other and we're
putting pressure on the opposition.
