They pull houses out of the ground and throw them at trees, and in America, where the houses are made of cardboard and wood, they pick up houses and throw sharp sticks, bits of plaster and bathroom fittings at everything, but that's another story altogether.

When the Wellington Hurricanes rugby side get things right they too wreak havoc on the field of play.  They have a history of exciting powerful backs, like the incomparable Christian Cullen and Tana Umaga, and big, strong attacking forwards like Rodney Soaialo and Jerry Collins. 

They play attacking, powerful rugby and are one of my favorite teams to watch.  Historically I’d say their weakness has been against sides who starve them of possession and pressure them for time and space with an in your face defence when they do get the ball.

The one thing you don’t want to do against the Hurricanes is hand them turnover possession or give them time and space to run at you.  If you do that then you’ll be in for a really long afternoon, and afterwards haunted by nightmares of freakish tattooed and dreadlocked rugby-ball shaped bees.

The 2011 squad has a core group of experienced players that include the abovementioned Rodney Soaialo and fellow All Black ,and most likely captain, Andrew Hore and are coached by former All Black Mark Hammett.

In fact their 2011 squad is full to the brim with exciting All Black talent.  At the front they have powerhouse prop Neemia Tialata and hooker Andrew Hore, accompanied by John Schwalger, Karl Lowe and Dane Coles who gathered good experience deputising for the injured Hore in 2010.  In Victor Vito they have an exciting young loose forward who made his mark in sevens and then broke into the Hurricanes and All Black ranks in 2010.  He joins Rodney and a host of young loose forwards who will no doubt set the fields on fire in 2011.

At the back is where the real fun begins.  First choice number 9 is All Black Piri Wheepu, but he broke his leg last year which ended his chances of representing New Zealand on the end of year tour and possibly also a world cup place as well.  If he recovers he’ll be looking to impress and try to jump the queue ahead of the Blue’s Alby Mathewson, but until then there exists an opportunity for someone else to stake a claim on the number 9 jersey. At pivot they have Aaron Cruden, who was given an opportunity to cement his place as the All Black back-up to Dan Carter in 2010 but was unable to take it.  He too will be looking to put himself back in the frame ahead of the likes of Colin Slade at the Highlanders and Stephen Donald at the Chiefs.

Outside him the Hurricanes boast a backline that would probably scare the living daylights out of most international sides.  Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith combine to form one of the most dangerous centre combinations ever contemplated.  On the wing they have the form player in New Zealand, Hosea Gear and at fullback the always impressive Cory Jane.

The Hurricanes are one of the more inconsistent sides in Superugby but I think they’ll be contenders in 2011.  They’ll most likely fight it out with the Auckland Blues for second sport in the New Zealand conference behind the Crusaders.  Overall the top 8 or 9 will be very closely matched, as always, and whoever scores the most bonus points will have the edge, and with their backline the Hurricanes are quite adept at doing just that.