Dane Coles, Codie Taylor tempers boil over in tense Super Rugby ...

All Blacks hookers Dane Coles and Codie Taylor nearly came to blows during a tense second half scuffle that saw referee Brendon Pickerill intervene in Wellington on Saturday.

Coles, who made an emotional entrance with his three children in his likely final home game for the Hurricanes, clashed with Taylor in the 48th minute of the hosts’ eventual 27-26 win over the Crusaders.

The Hurricanes hooker had forced a penalty for his team and Taylor appeared to take umbrage at verbals unleashed by his opposite number.

Elias Rodriguez

Codie Taylor of the Crusaders and Dane Coles of the Hurricanes go at it.

Both went nose to nose and Coles raised his fist but no punches were thrown as they both pushed and shoved.

Pickerill called the pair together as both continued to trade expletive-laden barbs.

“Are we finished, or do you want me to deal with it?,” Pickerill could be heard saying.

The pair – who both emerged from Horowhenua-Kapiti – shook hands and carried on but Taylor was given another send-off by Coles as he trotted off after being yellow carded.

Replaced by Jacob Devery, Coles left the field in the 55th minute to a standing ovation from sections of the Sky Stadium crowd. He applauded back to the fans before being greeted with hugs by the bench.

“We’ve got a lot of respect for each other but it’s Hurricanes versus Crusaders so we're not holding back,” Coles told Sky Sport post-match of the clash.

“He was looking out for his team-mate and I was looking out for myself.

“It was a little bit of banter and I was pretty surprised because he's usually calm and collected, Codes. We left it... I love Codes, he's a good man and I’ve got a lot of respect.”

The 138-game stalwart, who announced he would be hanging up his boots at the end of 2023, returned from injury in the nick of time to make his home farewell.