History shows Canes can bounce back
Brumbies 52 Hurricanes 10 shows no signs of vanishing into the mists of time.
For as long as there are Hurricanes who can remember being called fat, who blush at the thought of being pushed around in the scrums and can’t forget the endless summit meetings behind the posts, then the opening game of the 2016 Super Rugby season will remain a touchstone.
It wasn’t only on the scoreboard that the Hurricanes lost that night in Canberra. They had their dignity taken from them too. So as bad as Sunday’s 21-19 loss to the Bulls was, it wasn’t Brumbies 2016 bad.
‘‘It’s not terminal. In 2016 we lost our first two games, got a hiding against the Brumbies and recovered to finish top of the log,’’ Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd said after the Bulls loss.
‘‘I’m not saying it’s not a setback, because it’s such a competitive pool. But, at the end of the day, credit to the Bulls; they hung in there.’’
And the Hurricanes didn’t. Not to the extent that things became undignified but if the Hurricanes can lose to the Bulls, they can lose to anyone.
Boyd said he knew after three minutes that the team were struggling. The players - headed by their ‘‘game drivers’’ - recognised it too. They talked about how to respond but ‘‘just weren’t putting it into action,’’ said captain Brad Shields.
‘‘We’ve just got to slow the tempo a bit. We love to play fast ball, but sometimes we’ve got to slow down and do a bit of nitty gritty first, to earn our right to go wider and play with the pill.’’
That’s about as badly as the team will beat themselves up, in Buenos Aires this week. Boyd said the team’s work at the breakdown, on both attack and defence, wasn’t remotely adequate and left them unable to compete in any other facet of the game.
They lost the physical battle and therefore lost the match.
Moping and dwelling won’t help them. The Hurricanes know they have to take the Jaguares on, come Sunday morning (NZ time), and history shows they will. Probably out of embarrassment, as much as anything.
With the Crusaders to play when they get home, the Hurricanes have to get maximum points out of the Jaguares and it will be interesting to see what Boyd does with the 23. Wing Wes Goosen and prop Toby Smith were the two main injury concerns out of the Bulls match while prop Alex Fidow, who missed the match due to a bad skin infection, should be fit to play in Argentina.
Starting Beauden Barrett would seem a given, probably at first fiveeighth. Things that could complicate that include whether Barrett or Ihaia West is regarded as the firststring goalkicker on tour and whether Matt Proctor plays fullback or centre.
Proctor played both in Pretoria, finishing at 13 as part of a backline that had Barrett at 15 and West at first-five.
The most likely scenario is for Barrett to start at 10 and finish at 15, given there isn’t a specialist fullback in the touring party.
In the pack, there’s an argument to start Blade Thomson at No.8. He offers a big body and some goforward, which was lacking against the Bulls.
The rest of last week’s forwards should get a chance to atone, if fit.