Razor’s regime reaping rewards
which can be a blessing and a curse on occasions.
There are times when the Hurricanes know they’re better than the other team and chase cheap points and miracle plays but, overall, there was a pleasing lack of that in this game.
Lock Vaea Fifita strolled in to score on the back of some good defensive pressure, before T J Perenara’s hustle helped create an opening for centre Aso to race over.
The Cheetahs were next to score, though, when first fveeighth Fred Zeilinga rolled out the old show and go.
It took Savea’s short-range effort to give the halftime score a more realistic look.
Barrett ended up kicking 5/5 – the last one from the sideline – as his brother came on to replace him at 35-7 with 30 minutes remaining. TJ Perenara had driven over by then, before Aso raced over from 45-metres out.
Ngani Laumape had busted the Cheetahs’ defence from the kickoff following Perenara’s try, shifting the ball on to Aso. That took Aso up to 11 tries for 2017; level with what Laumape’s managed this year and one shy of Tana Umaga’s all-time Hurricanes’ record for a season.
Laumape then put the recordbreaking try on a plate for Aso again. This time his linebreak was followed by a kick, not a pass, which Aso gathered to make it 13 tries for the season. Ben Lam and Leni Apisai went over late to complete the rout.
It was the Hurricanes biggest win in Super Rugby. The bonus point they scored put them second in the New Zealand Conference ahead of the Chiefs on points differential. SCOTT Robertson says this is the fittest Crusaders side in quite some time, and believes it’s a big key to his team’s remarkable 12 from 12 start to the Super Rugby season.
Non-fancied by plenty heading into 2017, the Crusaders have now notched a club and competition record for successive victories, with their latest a gutsy 31-24 result against the Chiefs in Fiji on Friday night.
Not only have the Christchurch-based outfit operated without star men for several games - in Suva they were minus All Blacks Kieran Read, Matt Todd, Scott Barrett and Israel Dagg, while Ryan Crotty left with concussion inside the first quarter - they have also shown a penchant to fight their way back from behind.
Of their 12 games, the Crusaders haven’t had a halftime lead in five of them, including all four of their crucial derby matches. In those derbies they’ve only managed two first-half tries, but then only conceded two second-half tries.
‘‘We’re fit, very very fit, the fittest we’ve been for a long time,’’ said Robertson, who paid credit to strength and conditioning coach Simon Thomas and the support crew.
‘‘What we did was in the preseason time, make sure we got enough kilometres in our legs so that we could last the season, and kick on at the end of games. We’ve trained different through the week... to get our running metres up.
‘‘It’s pretty scientific, you don’t just turn up and run from line to line. Everyone’s got a goal each week they need to achieve and then they’ve got to make it faster the next time. So there’s a lot of running miles, and the balance of the week to make sure we can keep conditioned in-season’s critical as well. It’s a whole big picture, support staff, and a lot of philosophy on the way I like to run my week with them. So, so far so good.’’
Particularly so considering the team’s recent travel schedule, which has gone under the radar and could conceivably have tripped them up, having arrived back from South Africa to face the Hurricanes, then flying to Fiji for the Chiefs, with a trip to Melbourne for next weekend.
‘‘My language and mindset, I’m big on the way we talk. The draw’s the draw, and you embrace it,’’ Robertson said.
‘‘We recover like it means everything to us, it’s a part of training, really. So as a group we’re extremely professional and we make sure we enjoy what we do. It could be a distraction, but there’s no excuses in this team, we embrace what’s in front of us.’’