The Hurricanes have relished the return of their All Blacks stars, with their core of star players delivering in last week's 43-13 win over the Brumbies in Palmerston North.
With the likes of Beauden Barrett, Dane Coles, Ardie Savea and Ngani Laumape shining, the Hurricanes put in their best performance of the season, defeating a Brumbies side high on confidence after a 54-17 win over the Chiefs the week before.
Laumape and Coles in particular looked in fine fettle, bagging five tries between them, while Barrett controlled the game in his usual style.
Speaking at Hurricanes training today, assistant coach Carlos Spencer shared his joy at the return of his All Blacks.
"It makes a tremendous difference just having those guys," he said.
"Beaudy [Barrett] in for the first time, just his voice and how he controls the game around him, good to see. Colesy back to some great form. Ardie, some of the runs he's doing, some of the breakdown stuff he's done is just valuable.
"Just to have those guys back, they all put their hand up in the weekend. It definitely helps, it definitely lifts the side. Especially the young guys, the enjoy having those guys around."
Savea also said it was good to be back playing Super Rugby, although it may take him a while to acclimatise back into his Hurricanes surroundings.
"It was quite tough. We come back and we've got to try and learn all the moves, catch up to the boys that've been here since pre-season."
"It was good having Baz [Barrett] back, and all of the brothers all together, one team - that was pretty good. It kind of showed on the weekend, and that was pretty cool."
The Hurricanes could name another plethora of All Blacks stars for their next clash, taking on the Highlanders for their first game of the season at Westpac Stadium on Friday.
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