Dane Coles and Nehe Milner-Skudder will not play in Saturday's clash with the Cheetahs, but the question still remains if they will make road trip at all.

Pretoria? Perth? Wellington? There's an increasing probability Dane Coles and Nehe Milner-Skudder will play footy in one of those places between now and June 9.

Neither will feature for the Hurricanes in Saturday's clash with the Cheetahs at Westpac Stadium, but it's what happens after that which is intriguing.

The team hit the road to play the Bulls and Force, with Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd to decide this week whether the injured duo will embark on the whole trip, half the trip or none of the trip at all. Boyd can take 27 on tour and all have to be available to play.

BRUCE LIM/PHOTOSPORT. Hurricanes fullback Nehe Milner-Skudder is back side-stepping at training.

Milner-Skudder has progressed from straight-line running to "running with a change of direction," while Coles is able to do some light exercise without suffering any headaches or discomfort in his torn calf. The issue is getting the pair fit enough for football which, in Coles' case, could be a tricky exercise.

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Boyd said the captain and hooker was working at a prescribed heart rate. That's lifting as time goes by, but no-one knows how his head or calf will respond when the training intensity goes up to a game-type level. Until then, the team are unable to say for certain if he's over either injury.

ADAM POULOPOULOS/FAIRFAX NZ. Hurricanes captain Dane Coles recently received the Kapiti sportsman of the year award.

If you were mischievous, you might read a bit into a pause Boyd made while discussing the Hurricanes' scrummaging problems in the 20-12 loss to the Crusaders. The head coach said it was natural to have a hard time, given the Crusaders boasted "probably the All Blacks' starting frontrow...if Colesy's not right."

Things sound fairly promising for Milner-Skudder, in his recovery from foot fractures. The outside back hasn't played since March 10 but a progression towards side-stepping is good news.

It's a numbers game now, though, for both him and Coles.

"So [you take] 27 to Africa and you've got to cover your specialists, so typically you'd take five props or you'd take three hookers, but they all need need to be able top play. Then you'd maybe take a third halfback or, if you've got somebody who could play halfback, you might not," said Boyd.

"And then we do have the option for either of those guys to play in Perth and meet us to play against the Force there, which would save them travelling to Africa, having to adjust to the time zone and then doing some conditioning, where they'd be better staying here and getting a week's conditioning under the belt."