Lam helps Canes roast Highlanders
FAMILIARITY didn’t breed contempt, but it certainly gave us two teams well aware of what was coming next.
The Hurricanes and Highlanders had talked about how similar their games were. And, for a long time at Westpac Stadium last night, it seemed those similarities might leave us with a stalemate.
But the Hurricanes’ superior skill and toughness eventually told and they were able to manufacture a comfortable-looking 29-12 win over the previously unbeaten Highlanders.
It hadn’t been a game for the ages, but the victors wouldn’t have had any complaints in halfback TJ Perenara’s 100th game for the franchise.
For two teams that like to play expansive stuff, the Hurricanes and Highlanders had conspired to produce a pretty dour opening 40 minutes.
There were kicks and errors aplenty and what ball-running there was, tended to be from close quarters and directly into contact. You could see that both teams were eager to operate at a high tempo; but were just not dominant enough to make that a reality.
Things had begun very promisingly. A frenetic opening five minutes was capped when Hurricanes first five-eighth Beauden Barrett latched on to a kick from Highlander Rob Thompson and dashed 60 metres to score under the bar.
It wasn’t the prelude to a points-scoring onslaught, though. Wing Waisake Naholo finally crossed in the 20th minute, after a sustained period of Highlanders’ pressure, before opposite Ben Lam did the same two minutes from halftime.
But where Naholo had enjoyed a light stroll to the line, Lam had to bullock his way over in the tackles of Lima Sopoaga and Naholo, while being forced into touch. There were orange boots everywhere and it appeared that Lam might’ve put a foot out.
In the end, the errant boot belonged to Naholo and the Hurricanes took a 12-5 lead into halftime.
The seven-point advantage came at a cost, though. Openside flanker Ardie Savea appeared to badly damage his ribs in the leadup to Lam’s try and very gingerly made his way off. No sooner had play resumed after the break, than Naholo was in again. Sopoaga converted this time and we were back to all square.
The game was starting to feel like one of those where an unfortunate error could decide the contest.
Jordie Barrett booted a longrange penalty to put the Hurricanes 15-12 up but, as time continued to tick down, neither side had done much to suggest they’d emerge victorious.
Instead it was wing Vince Aso, once again subbed on for Julian Savea, who produced a brilliant 65th-minute put-down to push the Hurricanes out to 20-12. He and fullback Jordie Barrett had exchanged passes, with Aso diving over in the tackle of Ben Smith.
Beauden Barrett converted from touch and the home side were suddenly up by 10.
The impressive Lam put the final exclamation point on things by powering over for a second try.