Canes ‘embarrassed’
Changes likely after third successive loss
Changes? To be honest, there might be a few.
Improvements in attitude, execution and effort would be a good place to start when the Hurricanes host the Blues at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
‘‘They’re pretty embarrassed about what they delivered on the field,’’ Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said after the team’s 24-12 loss to the Brumbies in Canberra.
‘‘It’s not like we had a vintage performance and got beaten by a better side. We were poor. So if we’ve got any degree of respect amongst our group, they’ll be hurting.
‘‘But we have to be smart because we’ve got a long travel home and the boys will still be weary on Monday.’’
First five-eighth Beauden Barrett will slot back in, along with captain Brad Shields, but Boyd is hinting at more personnel moves than that.
The Hurricanes were beaten up for the third game running, couldn’t score any points and didn’t look likely to either. On this form, they’ll end up losing an away quarterfinal and wondering where it all went wrong.
If Boyd has any cards left to play now would be a good time.
The forwards have been a big problem, but Boyd has few alternatives there. He ran two quite distinct backlines in Canberra, though, with Jordie Barrett, Nehe Milner-Skudder and Julian Savea all playing two positions and Wes Goosen coming on at centre.
Wing Ben Lam, despite leading the competition in tries and linebreaks, was the most prominent player to get an early bath.
‘‘I don’t think any of our backthree would say that they had games out of the top drawer, so it’ll be interesting when we put the microscope over individuals performances and see where that ends up,’’ said Boyd.
‘‘None of those boys would be ecstatic about their performances and it’s just a question of whether they get another opportunity next week to come again or not.’’
Whoever plays, there simply has to be better intent, discipline and physicality. The Hurricanes had known that beating the Brumbies would give them a very decent chance of hosting a quarterfinal, but were unable to rouse themselves.
‘‘I’ll be honest with you, I was a little nervous before that game because I knew that they had a lot to play for,’’ Boyd said.
‘‘Not that we didn’t, but this was a drop-dead situation for them and they’ll be exactly the same next week. They go to the Chiefs in Hamilton and they lose that game and their season’s over.
‘‘So when one team has got a massive amount to play for and the other has got not quite as much, you can get exposed in those situations.’’