Hurricanes ready to rise to occasion
FAVOURITES: DEFENDING CHAMPS CHASE THIRD FINAL
Skipper Perenara says they are used to keeping pressure on.
It doesn’t require rocket science to work out why they have been so successful in Super Rugby over the last two years, believes Hurricanes scrumhalf and captain TJ Perenara.
Defending champions the Hurricanes have been installed as slight favourites to knock over the Lions in Saturday’s semifinal at Ellis Park to qualify for their third straight final.
In their last two games, the Hurricanes not only gave the Crusaders their first defeat (31-22) of the competition, but also scored a clinical 35-16 quarterfinal win over the Brumbies in Canberra last weekend.
“We have experienced that the more pressure you put on teams the more opportunities you can create for yourself,” said Perenara.
“On the other side, the more pressure you put on the opposition the more errors they tend to make.”
While Jaco Peyper was yesterday confirmed as the referee for the big game, the Lions ticket office confirmed that 18 000 tickets had already been sold by early yesterday morning.
The Hurricanes were yesterday set to include hooker Dane Coles, who will play his 100th game, and Super Rugby’s top try scorer, centre Vince Aso, in their starting team.
The Hurricanes scored wins of 50-17 at Ellis Park and 20-3 in the final in Wellington last year in the last two games they have faced the Lions.
The Hurricanes have also lost just once in 11 outings against the Lions, a 30-7 defeat suffered 10 years ago in 2007 when Loffie Eloff was still coaching the Johannesburg franchise.
But Lions coach Johan Ackermann believes they have learnt what is coming their way from playing the Hurricanes last year and that they will have to meet the challenge head-on in order to secure a first home final.
“I think we definitely have to go and look at what kind of space the Hurricanes give to you. The one thing we do know is that they are going to be in your face the whole time,” he said.
“And the Sharks were really good with that last weekend so we might have had a trial run last weekend.”