New midfield is running riot for Hurricanes
Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd put it best.
‘‘The nice thing is that at the end of 2015 everyone said ‘goodness, you’re losing Ma’a and Conrad, woe is me, what are you doing to do’?’’ And now they’re not. Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith were very good in midfield for the Hurricanes and they’ll forever be near the top of any list of the franchise’s all-time greats. But things have carried on nicely without them.
Centre Vince Aso has 13 tries for the Super Rugby season, beating the Hurricanes’ single-season record of 12 that had belonged to Tana Umaga. Second five-eighth Ngani Laumape has scored 11 tries himself and laid on plenty of others.
‘‘And we forget that Matt Proctor was probably our best player in the first six or seven rounds, before he got dinged.
‘‘So, in Matty P, Ngani and Vince we’ve now got three extremely competent midfielders,’’ Boyd said.
In their own way, each has been a revelation this season. Proctor, who is close to a return at centre from a lengthy concussionenforced absence, is the least flashy, but probably most valuable of the trio.
Aso’s ability to pop up in tryscoring positions is impressive, although the most eye-catching aspect of his play is the pace. He doesn’t look lightning fast, but it’s quickly become apparent that noone can catch him once he gets in the clear.
And then there’s Laumape. Short and squat, the second fiveeighth never got fit enough to show what he could do in 2016. But his power, pace and footwork have caught everyone’s attention this season.
‘‘He carries the ball very hard and teams jam up on him now and they gang-tackle him or do anything they can to shut that zone down and that gives Vince and Bus [Julian Savea] and whoever else is on the wings or at fullback a little bit of time and space on the ball,’’ Hurricanes halfback TJ Perenara.
‘‘I know it can be a little bit frustrating for Ngani when people are jamming up but he’s doing so much good work, by creating that attention, that it gives everyone else opportunities.’’
Aso readily attested to this: ‘‘All I know is you’ve got to have a second-five that looks the The Hulk, and who runs over everyone, and just run off him.’’
The centre-cum wing was just as modest when it came to taking the record off Umaga.
‘‘It’s pretty awesome being able to go past a legend like that.’’