Hurricanes rub salt into wounds of hapless, winless Blues
Even desperation couldn’t save the Blues as two teams’ seasons headed in opposite directions in Palmerston North.
The Hurricanes’ 30-23 win was their fourth straight this year, the best start to Super Rugby since the competition began at the same venue 20 seasons ago.
The Blues and their coach John Kirwan have sagged to 0-5, a barely believable record for a team based in New Zealand’s biggest city.
If the pressure gauge was set to extreme before this match, it will ramp up to unprecedented levels during the Blues’ bye week.
As has become his mantra, Kirwan refused to buy into any talk of chucking in the towel, instead praising his players’ courage and commitment.
‘‘The boys are beaten up in there,’’ he said.
‘‘They were totally committed. I’m so proud of them but we just can’t win a trick. We have to just keep working hard. The courage and commitment is there from the guys and it will turn around.’’
Accuracy issues, including missed touch kicks and two missed penalties from first five-eighth Ihaia West in the final 20 minutes, had cost his side rather than any flawed game plan.
‘‘Little things like that aren’t going for us at the moment. Great courage, great commitment, great belief from the boys, but we just need to execute a little better.’’
With the Waratahs on the horizon, there will be no let up, but Kirwan said four losing bonus points were proof his side was not far off turning the corner.
‘‘If you were going to lose faith it would have been this week and they didn’t. It’s been a hard week for the team, but they stayed tight, they stayed strong. They played with guts and commitment tonight, but execution let us down. The guys deserve more than what they are getting.’’
Kirwan’s post-match comments will again rankle his detractors and do not change the results.
The Blues pack again did enough to give the visitors a chance to win, but West failed to execute in his decisionmaking, from the kicking tee and with his line kicking.
Elevating Dan Bowden or Simon Hickey is the obvious option, but neither is likely to provide an instant fix.
There are no such headaches for the Hurricanes and their coach Chris Boyd, who, despite grabbing a four-try bonus point to remain on top of the table, said there was far better to come as they eye a trip to Dunedin to play the Highlanders next week.
‘‘The first 20 minutes we were a shoelace away from converting a lot of pressure and territory in to points, but we didn’t get it,’’ he said.
‘‘They got the intercept and suddenly the game became a contest. The disappointing thing after that was we went a little soft around the rucks and mauls for a period of time and let them back in.
‘‘We are delighted to get the five points, but far from happy with our performance.’’
The Hurricanes treated the 10,600-strong crowd to a thrilling first 15 minutes, but got carried away with just how easily they were stretching and breaking the Blues line.
Halfback TJ Perenara raced away for an early try and an 8-0 lead before gifting Blues fullback Lolagi Visinia an 80-metre intercept try that let the visitors into an enthralling and well refereed match.
The Blues led 17-11 as halftime approached after a try to wing Frank Halai, but trailed 18-17 at the break after Hurricanes wing Matt Proctor dived on a Beauden Barrett chip kick in the 45th minute.
It summed up the match. The Blues fought hard, but the Hurricanes simply looked the more likely team to score on the night.
Fullback Nehe Milner-Skudder was a joy to watch on his home track, constantly using his pace to pierce two defenders and open space for others. He handled twice in the movement that led to Perenara’s first try, and hit a Ma’a Nonu offload to deliver a brilliant final pass to Julian Savea to put his side up 25-20 after halftime.
After an intriguing second half armwrestle, Hurricanes replacement Blade Thomson surged forward to deliver a one-handed pass to Savea, who crashed over to deliver the death-blow of the match, and probably the Blues’ season.