Laumape unstoppable as Canes snap winless streak
Midfielder’s four-star performance sees the Hurricanes outfinish the toothless Blues.
Hurricanes Blues
The Hurricanes broke their losing streak but didn’t manage to quite convince they are back to their best. They got the job done thanks largely to Ngani Laumape, who scored four tries that were testament to his stunning power on the direct route.
It was one of the great individual attacking performances of the season — muscular, explosive and so, so important. Without his contribution, the Hurricanes didn’t have much else to offer and they would probably concede that the Blues played with greater imagination and variation.
What the Hurricanes did manage was to be impressively clinical with the chances they did create.
It wasn’t just Laumape who nailed it — the Hurricanes scrum delivered a quality platform and the likes of Beauden Barrett, Nehe MilnerSkudder and Jordie Barrett had significant touches at critical times to ensure their side stayed in control on the scoreboard.
But despite the final score, the Hurricanes didn’t quite look the Hurricanes. Not the best version of themselves, anyway.
They were good enough to piece together three cracking strike moves in the first half that netted them three tries. It was straight off the training ground sort of stuff — well-planned moves, executed at speed and with stunning precision.
Laumape was the key piece of weaponry, used to hit the ball at pace and split the Blues defence. When used like that, he’s all but impossible to stop but he was helped by some poor defensive reads by Rieko Ioane.
The youngster is the hottest property in world rugby right now, and while his long term future may be at second-five, it doesn’t feel the right position for him at the moment.
He was too easily pulled into the wrong places and isolated on defence. And too often on attack, there was no space for him to exploit.
He provided one telling reminder of why he should be on the wing when he was played into space shortly before halftime and scorched 30 metres into the corner.
But while the Hurricanes were able to deliver on their set plays, their intuitive, off-the-cuff rugby from broken play was still not visible for the third week in succession.
They are at their best when the game is loose and unstructured and despite the fact there was plenty of ebb and flow and ample opportunity to attack a retreating Blues defence, the Hurricanes magic touch.
Their passing wasn’t sharp enough to create the initial holes and their ball retention wasn’t good enough on the occasions they did spark into life.
They still look a touch vulnerable — ripe for the taking in the playoffs and the Blues exposed plenty with what was one of their better attacking performances of the year. When they were direct, particularly through Akira Ioane, they went forward and created indecision in the Hurricanes defence.
And when they went forward and couldn’t find their offloaded, they had the Hurricanes all over the place and the panic could be seen in the way the home side fell off so many one-on-one tackles.
If the Blues could have retained their composure for one more pass, or one more phase, they could have been looking at a different outcome.
So often they did all the hard work, broke deep into Hurricanes territory but got stuck five metres out. Well beaten again, they can at least take something from their performance. Hurricanes 42 (J. Savea, N. Laumape 4, B. Barrett tries; J. Barrett 6 cons) Blues 24 (R. Ioane 2, A. Ioane tries; S. Perofeta
3 cons, pen). Halftime: 21-10.
● The Waratahs clinched top spot in the Australian conference with a 77-25 win over the Sunwolves in Sydney last night.
The Japanese side were in the game, trailing 19-18 just before the break, when Semisi Masirewa was sent off for a tackle on Bernard Foley after the first-five had just set up Israel Folau for his second try.
The Waratahs scored eight second-half tries, including three in the last 10 minutes when the Sunwolves were down to 13 men.