Highlanders take low road
Former All Black Nehe MilnerSkudder made a successful return to rugby but his former side the Hurricanes surged to a 41-22 win last night on the back of powerful efforts from for Ngani Laumape and Du’Plessis Kirifi – and an eventful one for captain Dane Coles.
Wound up by an early obstruction play by Highlanders No 10 Mitch Hunt, Coles was a like a heavily shaken bottle of fizzy drink in Wellington – best left alone for about 30 minutes.
Coles was involved in two scuffles, was shown a yellow card and scored a try – and that was all in the first half.
He also won a crucial captain’s referral after 45 minutes, when Highlanders lock Bryn Evans bobbled the ball, rubbing out a try to wing Sam Gilbert with the score at 22-17 to the Hurricanes. Coles departed soon after that, replaced by Asafo Aumua.
The Hurricanes were never caught after that, with tries to Kirifi and flanker Brayden Iose getting the job done but it was a rather messy finish to Super Rugby Aotearoa for both sides, with too many mistakes to produce a quality encounter.
Hurricanes wing Salesi Rayasi’s performance summed up the night, as he combined some moments of attacking quality with some loose passes in a mixed bag.
Milner-Skudder was good considering he last played at this level in 2019. But he showed a few nice touches, and even spent 10 minutes at No 10 – where he has been playing in Dunedin club rugby – when Mitch Hunt was sent to the bin with Coles in the first half.
A missed tackle on Rayasi blotted his copybook, but it was a performance to build on.
But the Hurricanes always had the most damaging individuals, with Laumape completing his strong
second half to Super Rugby Aotearoa with an impressive display and an important try at the start of the
second half.
The Hurricanes scored the first try after eight minutes as Kirifi powered past Scott Gregory and No 8 Devan Flanders strolled over after Coles and Rayesi linked up well.
The Hurricanes were almost two tries to the good inside 15 minutes but were denied by a trysaving tackle by Highlanders lock Bryn Evans, who scythed down Luke Campbell just as the No 9 had the posts in his sights.
Coles was at his niggly best and worst early on, getting into two altercations with Hunt and then firing a few verbal shots at the opposition.
But referee Ben O’Keeffe took a dim view of the second Coles-Hunt bout, issuing both a yellow card after Coles had used his elbow to pin the No 10 to the ground and Hunt had shoved the All Blacks hooker in response.
The Highlanders punished him,
marching downfield on the back of some superb carries by Japanese No 8 Kazuki Himono, and Josh Dickson crashed over.
Wing Jona Nareki scooted over after 28 minutes on the back of pressure asserted at scrumtime.
But Coles couldn’t be kept out of the game, powering over after a lineout drive stalled to send the Hurricanes into the sheds with momentum despite trailing on the scoreboard.