Beauden brilliance gives Hurricanes shot at redemption
THE Hurricanes will have the opportunity to right the wrongs of 2015 after securing a second home Super Rugby final in two years.
The Wellington outfit were put under the pump by a physical Chiefs side but they had Beauden Barrett in their ranks who made all the difference for the side seeking to avenge last year’s final defeat to the Highlanders.
The All Black fly-half brilliantly set up the first try for Willis Halaholo, scored one himself and kicked ten points from the tee – Victor Vito being the third try-scorer.
“We had to defend for a big part of the first half but it set the standards for us,” said stand-in Canes captain TJ Perenara. “Beauden is going great at the moment and he’s kicking his goals. If keeps going like that we’ll do well.”
The Canes had to do without usual captain Dane Coles, missing with the rib injury he suffered last week against the Sharks, but his replacement Ricky Riccitelli sparked the hosts into life six minutes in.
The hooker dived on a loose ball on his 22 and offloaded to Barrett who launched a sensational 75m counter-attack, chipping over the defence and leaving three defenders in his wake.
He was caught by McKenzie five metres out but found Halaholo on his shoulder for one of the tries of the season.
McKenzie put the Chiefs on the board soon after with a penalty and the two-time champions spent the next 20 minutes putting the Canes under huge pressure.Despite countless attempts at the line after turning down easy shots at goals, they couldn’t score and instead it was the hosts who worked their way back up field for Barrett to extend the lead from the tee.
Two minutes later, the No.10 added seven more points after intercepting a Sam Cane pass to run in from 50m untouched.
McKenzie reduced the gap with his second penalty but the Chiefs still trailed 15-6 at the break and it became 22-6 soon after as Vito barged over from a five-metre scrum.
McKenzie and Barrett exchanged a penalty each before the Chiefs were handed a lifeline on the hour when Cory Jane was binned for a deliberate knock on.
But the inaccuracies that prevented them from scoring all game kept creeping in and the Canes saw out the game.
Chiefs captain Aaron Cruden said:“We came here confident but the Hurricanes put a lot of pressure on us and we made too many mistakes in their 22 to score.”