Hurricanes finally quell lively Blues
The mid-winter chill was nothing compared with the frostiness inside the Hurricanes dressing room at halftime. A slow awakening from their Super slumber, an array of missed tackles against a lively Blues outfit and the sad sight of prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen clutching a season-ending broken arm left the Cane train on the brink of derailment.
But after coach Chris Boyd delivered his icy glare and a few senior players chimed in, the Hurricanes eased back on track to complete a 37-27 win before a crowd of 15,618 at Westpac Stadium.
It took a muscular defensive lift, a welcome seven-from-seven goalkicking show by Beauden Barrett and a double from dynamic lock Vaea Fifita for normal transmission to finally resume.
Not that Boyd was too happy afterwards, as they notched their ninth win of the season to move within two points of New Zealand conference leaders the Chiefs. Tough away games against the Waratahs and Crusaders loom – along with some stern defence sessions – before their playoff spot is assured.
‘‘Average. It was a rusty old performance and I thought we’d prepared really well but we didn’t quite get out of third gear,’’ said Boyd, whose team were fortunate to trail by just seven at the break after ushering wave after wave of Blues attacks through their defensive line.
‘‘We were disappointed with the half: the 17 was OK but the 24 was terrible, so we were pretty angry about that. We needed to refocus and we did enough to get four points.’’
Boyd confirmed his tighthead prop Toomaga-Allen would sit out the next three months after breaking his forearm inside the first 15 minutes. His replacement, Chris Eves, was impressive and the experienced Ben May will return to the 23 but there was genuine sadness for the luckless ToomagaAllen. ‘‘It’s bloody tragic, really, because he’s been a mainstay for us at tighthead and played really well all year.’’
The Hurricanes were shortpriced favourites, playoff-bound with five frontline All Blacks returning while the Blues had three, and only a slim mathematical chance of making the postseason.
Coach Tana Umaga has enjoyed a few parties at the stadium and nearly spoiled this one for his old team, but his youngsters ran out of puff after giving the ball plenty of air in a frantic first 40.
‘‘Some crucial errors for us at certain times; little moments that we’ve talked about,’’ Umaga said.
‘‘They [Hurricanes] were really resolute and shored up their defence a lot more. It’s not as if they played a hell of a lot. They solidified the middle of the ruck and we weren’t getting the same quick ball.’’
Early on the Blues’ loose trio were dynamic, and central figures in their scoring spree where both sides combined for five tries in a hectic 13 minutes.
Steven Luatua carried strongly, sending defenders flying. Livewire Kara Pryor was everywhere and scorched 30m to score after Japan centre Male Sa’u ghosted through a yawning gap. Jerome Kaino sat out the third test against Wales and was cherry ripe, muscling over from a powerful lineout drive then catching TJ Perenara and a few forwards napping from a ruck when he dashed 35m.
Captain Dane Coles lifted his troops and was all over the field, scoring himself with a stroke of luck from an old-fashioned dribbling rush. Ihaia West lost the ball and it looked as if Eves had knocked on, but Coles pounced and the officials were happy even if the Blues protested long.
Umaga appeared unhappy but didn’t blame the decision for their Liam Napier: Phil Gifford: pB2 Mark Reason: pB2 pB3 defeat. ‘‘It obviously wasn’t [a knock on] because it was awarded against us.’’
Barrett seemed to be doing more tackling than sparking his side’s attack, but at least his kicking radar was deadly at long last. Backto-back penalties from the All Blacks pivot got the Hurricanes within four and they regained their composure and began bending the Blues’ line themselves.
When Fifita burst onto a Perenara short-ball and crossed beside the posts, the Hurricanes somehow had the lead with 25 minutes to play.
Hurricanes wing Julian Savea was solid rather than spectacular and sent his opposite Matt Duffie flying once or twice. But Duffie out-jumped him for one cross-kick and Savea suffered a leg knock which saw him limp off with the Hurricanes clinging to their lead. The bench swung into gear and replacement Willis Halaholo sparked a sweeping move which saw Fifita stroll through a tired defensive line with nine minutes left.
The Waratahs kept pace with the Brumbies at the top of the Australian conference with a 57-12 demolition of the Sunwolves in Tokyo yesterday.
MARK GEENTY
Dane pen) Piers
(Vaea Fifita 2, Reggie Goodes, Coles tries; Beauden Barrett 4 con, 3 Kaino 2, Kara Pryor tries; con, 2 pen). 17-24.
Francis 3