Rennie cautious in backing Canes
The Hurricanes can beat the Lions in Saturday’s Super Rugby final, but it won’t come easy, warns Chiefs coach Dave Rennie.
Both finalists were impressive victors in their respective semis, with the Hurricanes beating the Chiefs 25-9 and the Lions easily fending off the Highlanders 42-30 in Johannesburg.
Travel schedules were a factor in both results, but you would be hard-pressed to suggest the Hurricanes and Lions didn’t deserve to be in the decider.
Rennie’s Chiefs had a mixed time of it against each of them this season, beating the Hurricanes 28-27 in the round-robin but losing 36-32 to the Lions at home.
‘‘They’ll have to play well,’’ Rennie said of the Hurricanes’ chances of winning at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
‘‘The Lions are a pretty impressive side. They’ll have big men running hard.’’
That was certainly a feature of their semifinal victory over the Highlanders. With first five-eighth Elton Jantjies doing some brilliant things, too, the Lions presented a very potent and balanced attack.
Good on the Highlanders for running in some tries late on, but they were soundly beaten.
In Wellington, the Chiefs made most of the running but couldn’t turn it into points. The Hurricanes rushed up and in on defence and consistently upset or disrupted what the visitors were trying to achieve.
The Chiefs - as the Lions will too - knew it was coming, but weren’t able to combat it.
‘‘We just didn’t get the ball into the right player’s hands,’’ lamented co-captain Sam Cane.
Rennie cut his top-level coaching teeth with Wellington and as an assistant for the Hurricanes. He also played for Wellington, so knows rugby in that part of the world well.
‘‘They’ve got a lot of firepower but jeez they defended well. Hurricanes teams have always been able to score a lot of points, but maybe leak a few,’’ said Rennie.
Not lately, though. The Crusaders’ Ryan Crotty was the last player top breach their tryline, with the Hurricanes having gone two and-a-half matches without giving up a further five-pointer.
‘‘That defensive edge makes them a little bit more difficult to contend with, [they] haven’t conceded a try in the last couple of weeks,’’ Rennie said.
Whether they’ll be able to contain the Lions as well, remains to be seen.
‘‘It’s just who fronts on the night,’’ said Rennie.