Lam on rampage as Canes win
Ben Lam has recaptured his devastating, game-breaking form in the Hurricanes’ big Super Rugby win over the Sharks.
With the game evenly poised at 17-17 at halftime, the winger scored two tries in 11 minutes after the break to blow the game apart, with his side going on to win 38-22 at Sky Stadium in Wellington last night.
Both featured him at his hardrunning best.
The first saw a poor clearing kick fall to Jordie Barrett on halfway, but Lam was immediately calling for a pass. He must’ve seen something he liked, because as soon as he got the ball he put the foot down, beating two wouldbe tacklers on the Sharks’ 22 to race in to score near the posts.
He got his second when a Jackson Garden-Bachop cross-kick looked to have been caught by Sharks replacement Sanele Nohamba, but Lam ripped it off him in midair, ran 40m to the corner, fending off a defender before his ankles were clipped, but he had enough momentum to get over the line.
Those two touches doubled the number of touches he had in the entire first half.
It typified a lot of how last season went for Lam as he interspersed moments of brilliance with long periods of inaction, but if the Hurricanes can get him up and running like they did in the second half last night, then he could be back to his 2018 form, which saw him lead Super Rugby with 16 tries.
There were plenty of other good performances from the Hurricanes. Du’Plessis Kirifi, who was a late callup into the starting side to replace Reed Prinsep, was a menace at the breakdown, while Tyrel Lomax impressed again with his rocksolid scrummaging.
The match started with an early Barrett penalty, but the Sharks were first to get across the tryline in the 13th minute when TJ Perenara threw an intercept pass to Lukhanyo Am, who sprinted 70m before he was caught by Lam. He was able to get a pass away to Madosh Tambwe to scoot in to score.
The Hurricanes hit back in the 21st minute after sustained pressure on the Sharks in their 22 with both 5m lineouts and scrums. Perenara eventually fired the ball out the scrum, and it was a simple backline move to
Wes Goosen corner.
But the Sharks struck back almost immediately via a closerange effort from Tyler Paul. They had lost first-five Boeta Chamberlain to injury just before that, so replacement halfback Nohamba took the conversion and nailed it.
Chamberlain was one of a number of early casualties, with Makazole Mamimpi going to the sheds before him, meaning the Sharks had used both their back replacements in the first 20 minutes.
The Hurricanes also suffered attrition, but in the forwards rather than the backs. In the first to score in the 20 minutes, flanker Gareth Evans suffered a cut to the head, but continued, while lock Scott Scrafton went off for a Head Injury Assessment, but was also able to return.
The news was not so good for prop Fraser Armstrong, as he had to be replaced by Pouri RaketeStones after 26 minutes.
The action continued straight after the Sharks try as Barrett struck a cross-kick to Ngani Laumape which just eluded a jumping Sharks defender’s hand. Laumape collected it and ran 60m to score, beating Nohamba – who was defending at fullback – oneon-one with dazzling footwork along the way.
The remainder of the half was (Ben Lam 2, Wes Goosen, Ngani Laumape, Dane Coles tries; Jordie Barrett 5 con, pen)
(Madosh Tambwe, Tyler Paul, Mazamo Majola tries; Boeta Chamberlain con, Sanele Nohamba con, pen). 17-17. entertaining, but there were no more tries as just a Nohamba penalty levelled the scores at 17-17 heading into the break.
Lam’s two tries were followed by a short lull in the game as the Hurricanes consolidated their position.
Hooker Dane Coles made his season debut with 30 minutes to go and grabbed himself a try when finishing off a rolling maul with 15 minutes left which sealed the win.
Mzamo Majola crashed over to give the Sharks some hope with 10 minutes to go, but the conversion was missed, leaving a 16-point deficit too big to overcome.
Hurricanes 38
Sharks 22
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