Hurricanes have proven qualities

The Hurricanes, just. If you’re a Canes fan you’ll now vote for them in the poll. If not, it’ll be someone else. After all, this is not really a debate, more a beauty pageant.

I’m based out of our Wellington office and it’s my job to cover the Hurricanes. It’s a good round and they’re nice people. The winning helps, given how quickly losing teams can drop their bundle.

But this isn’t politics. I’m not some paid stooge, peddling a message on behalf of the Hurricanes Party.

You don’t always like the people you write about. Sometimes you don’t care for them at all and are quite happy to see them do poorly.

Overall, the Hurricanes seem a good bunch. It’s hard to know for sure, but you watch and listen from a distance and try to form an opinion. Mine would definitely be a favourable one. It’s the job of the Hurricanes’ coaches and players to find a way to win against the Lions in Johannesburg this weekend and the record the team has compiled in the three years – when Chris Boyd, John Plumtree, Conrad Smith, Dane Coles, TJ Perenara and Brad Shields have held leadership positions – would suggest they can.

Two finals and now a semifinal is an outcome most franchises would take in a heartbeat. The Hurricanes feel they coughed up the 2015 final to the Highlanders and winning the title last year must have been a relief. The motivation is different this time.

No-one doubts or questions the team’s ability. Whether they’re as desperate to win in 2017, as they were in the two seasons prior, we’ll find out in the next few days.