Hurricanes second five eighth Ma'a Nonu provides instructions to his teammates during training ahead of Saturday's Super Rugby semifinal against the Brumbies.

Hurricanes fans have taken care of one of the team's goals this season and now the players want to repay the faithful.

When coach Chris Boyd sat down before the season with his squad they acknowledged some home truths about the public's level of support.

With the Hurricanes' last playoff appearance in 2009 a distant memory and Westpac Stadium's empty yellow seats multiplying at an alarming rate, it was resolved that a key barometer of their success would be how many people could be bothered showing up to watch them.

So when Boyd addressed his squad on Thursday to tell them Saturday's semifinal against the Brumbies was all but sold out, it sent a ripple of pride through the room.

"One of our visions at the start of the year was that we'd rate the season on how full we got the stadium," fullback James Marshall said. "So when Boydy showed us the figures during our presentation and he said we'd filled the stadium, we'd achieved one of our goals. The next one is to finish it off and win the competition."

Marshall, who captained Taranaki to the ITM Cup premiership title last year in front of about 20,000 fans at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth, said the support that's steadily built behind the Hurricanes had the same parochial feel.

"I reckon it does have that provincial feel to it, especially the way the community has got behind us the last few weeks and now that we're winning everyone is jumping on and everyone is enjoying the ride.

"There are so many little motivators that we could look at, but at the end of the day it's a semifinal, we are wearing the Hurricanes swirl and we just want to win another game."

Boyd said the team's renewed support after years of falling crowds was important, but said the players needed to front up against the Brumbies if they wanted to hold onto the hard earned respect of their fan base.

"At the start of the year we talked about the barometer of our success as being able to fill the stadium and I think we're pretty happy we've managed to do that. That was step one of the process.

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"We also talked about respect and at the end of the day the public will support us if the boys are giving all they've got. Both contests on the weekend, the fear all the teams will have is a poor performance.

"You can accept the fact that if the other team plays better than you and you gave everything, then so be it. What you can't accept as a group is a soft performance."

Last time the Hurricanes sold out their home ground was for the 2006 semifinal against the Waratahs and Boyd doesn't want to see another decade pass before the next one.

"I think they have [gained respect] to date, but respect is a fickle thing. It's very easy to lose and hard to get back. It's a long grind to get respect, but you can lose it overnight if you get it wrong."

Though veteran wing Cory Jane's hamstring ruled him out of the semifinal, Boyd had no concerns about his side's big match composure.

"It's not just in Super Rugby, we've got a lot of guys who have played in big matches for the All Blacks. The boys from Taranaki played in an ITM Cup final last year, the boys from Manawatu played in a [Championship] final last year, so there are a lot of guys with finals experience and they've passed on good knowledge."

News that only a handful of the 34,500 tickets to the match were left to be sold had created a buzz in the camp and Boyd said the Hurricanes wouldn't be hiding from the hype in the days before kick off.

"It's one of those catch 22 situations where you don't want to make it too intense, but obviously someone marches on and somebody goes home, so you can't hide from that fact."

Hurricanes: James Marshall, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Conrad Smith (c) , Ma'a Nonu, Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Victor Vito, Ardie Savea, Brad Shields, James Broadhurst, Jeremy Thrush, Ben Franks, Dane Coles, Reggie Goodes. Reserves: Brayden Mitchell, Chris Eves, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Mark Abbott, Blade Thomson, Chris Smylie, Rey Lee-Lo, Matt Proctor.