At a glance
Champions elect? Beauden Barrett doesn’t believe so.
Five games into their Super Rugby season, there’s no doubt the Hurricanes are handily placed. From the humiliation of losing to the Bulls in Pretoria, the team have won four on the trot, including impressive performances against the Crusaders and Highlanders.
People have now been quick to lavish praise on the side – and one or two individuals – even going so far as to predict a march to the title. All of which elicits a long sigh from the Hurricanes’ first five-eighth.
‘‘The pressure we put on ourselves exceeds the external pressure, so we don’t read anything into the external stuff,’’ Barrett said ahead of Friday’s clash with the Sharks in Napier.
‘‘It’s about us, each day at training, wanting to be better, being competitive and always looking to improve, so we don’t buy into any of that stuff. Whether it’s a loss or a previous win, we’re just looking to get better each week.’’
And that is the Hurricanes’ greatest strength.
It’s not the athleticism and offloads. It’s not about size or speed. The reason the Hurricanes are now consistent Super Rugby contenders is their best players – such as Barrett – are the hardest workers and the blokes least likely to ever be satisfied or starry-eyed.
They set the tone at training and everybody else follows. It’s no guarantee of victory, but it’s a useful step in the right direction.
‘‘It’s interesting because sometimes my opinion of who our best players are and who our most valuable players are, are not seen by other people,’’ Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said. ‘‘We’ve been really lucky that the guys who’ve stepped
Jordie Barrett, Julian Savea, Vince Aso, Ngani Laumape, Ben Lam, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Gareth Evans, Sam Henwood, Brad Shields (c), Sam Lousi, Michael Fatialofa, Jeff To’omaga-allen, Ricky Riccitelli, Chris Eves. Reserves: Asafo Aumua, Fraser Armstrong, Ben May, Vaea Fifita, Reed Prinsep, Jamie Booth, Ihaia West, Wes Goosen.
into other people’s shoes have done particularly good jobs for us. So [flanker] Sam Henwood had a really decent game [last Friday], on the back of Ardie [Savea] not being fit, and we know that we need to keep 30-plus guys ticking over and to keep seats warm to have momentum down the track.’’
Savea’s ribs are still not right, nor Matt Proctor’s sternum, so Henwood and Vince Aso retain the roles at openside and centre that they had against the Rebels. The other changes from that 50-19 win are Jeff To’omaga-allen and Michael Fatialofa being rotated in for Ben May and Vaea Fifita at prop and lock.
That’s enviable depth; just don’t refer to it as title-winning depth.
‘‘I think the talk about the championship is massively premature and there’s still a whole bunch of teams in the competition that can win this thing,’’ said Boyd.
If the Hurricanes are still around when the playoffs start, then their ‘‘hunters’’ might’ve had something to do with it. They’re the midweek warriors, playing against Barrett and company in the guise of that weekend’s opponents.
‘‘They know they’ve got a role to play for the team and it might not be the role they want – because everyone wants to be in the 1-15 [jumpers] – but we’ve got guys breaking down opposition lineouts, breaking down opposition scrums, looking at backline attacks and feeding that information into the guys that are going to be playing,’’ Boyd said.
‘‘At the moment there’s a really good feel that everyone’s working for a common cause and I think that alignment in a team is absolutely critical.’’
"Whether it's a loss or a previous win, we're just looking to get better each week." Beauden Barrett