Savea’s ‘pep’ talk lifts Canes
Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea reckoned he couldn’t repeat what was said in the halftime talk before the comeback win over the Waratahs – but it worked.
The teams were level at 15-15 until a Ben Donaldson penalty in the 68th minute put the Waratahs ahead in a pulasting Super Rugby Pacific clash at Sydney’s Leichhardt Oval on Saturday.
The buffer wasn’t enough and despite some desperate defence, All Blacks back-rower Savea climbed off the deck after a heavy knock to score the try that earned the Hurricanes a 22-18 win.
‘‘We talked about taking it moment by moment and we did that and got ourselves back into the game,’’ Savea said.
‘‘The win is very important coming into the back end of the competition.’’
The win allowed the Hurricanes to leapfrog the Waratahs into fourth.
The Waratahs led 15-0 at halftime and held the lead until the 75th minute when Savea scrambled over the line.
That try robbed the Waratahs of victory in front of large and vocal crowd, which harked back to the Waratahs’ glory days, and also put a dent in their hunt for a top-four finish.
The Waratahs looked like they would fly the flag for Australian rugby after the Brumbies, Reds and Western Force fell to their Kiwi rivals.
As well as the heartbreaking loss, in-form centre Izaia Perese limped from the field with a suspected MCL and is now in doubt for the Wallabies’ test series against England in early July.
‘‘It feels like it got away from us that game,’’ Waratahs skipper Jake Gordon told Stan Sport.
‘‘We controlled possession in the first half but they came out of the blocks really quickly in that second half and we had trouble controlling that.
‘‘We had opportunities to complete and we didn’t.’’
Waratahs had to play the final three minutes a man down with prop Paddy Ryan red-carded for an alleged high shot on Jordie Barrett.
The Waratahs forwards laid the platform for a 15-0 halftime lead, with their set piece causing all sorts of headaches for the visitors.
Such was their scrum dominance Hurricanes coach Jason Holland switched his props before the break, bringing All Blacks enforcer Owen Franks and Tevita Mafileo into the fray.
Test hooker Dane Coles also started the second half and with the Hurricanes hammering the line, Mafileo broke through in the 42nd minute.
Centre Bailyn Sullivan then crossed after 60 minutes to square it up.
The Waratahs scored twice in the first half although with 94% of possession and territory in the opening 20 they should have been further ahead.
No8 Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco came up with a try after picking up the ball at the back of the scrum. They backed that up with Perese getting away a freakish backhand flick pass for winger Dylan Pietsch to score in the 36th minute.
The Waratahs at least walked away with a losing bonus point to help their finals quest.
Savea and his Hurricanes teammates remain in Australia for a game against the Rebels on Saturday, while the Waratahs have an extra day to recover before going to Dunedin to face the Highlanders.
They still really shouldn’t be rewardedwith a playoffs spot, but maybe the Highlanders are timing their run to perfection.
Just threeweeks ago, Tony Brown’smob were sitting with an ugly 1-8 win-loss record and facing the prospect of missing the playoffs in this inaugural Super Rugby Pacific competition.
Now, in the midst of an ugly travel schedule, the southerners have seemingly turned a sharp corner with threewins on the bounce to all but ensure eighth spot will be theirs.
Two thirds of teams making the finals is of course a crock, but the Landers didn’t write the rules and at this stage they appear to be channelling their underdog-best selves, so much so that Brown was heard on pre-match TV coverage ahead of their previousmatch against the Reds talking down his troops’ talent, noting they had no superstars in their ranks.
Halfbacks Aaron Smith and Folau Fakatava could have had reason to baulk at that, but they’ll know the game Brown is employing – the little old battler mentality, the one which served them so well on the way to what remains their only title, in 2015, when they beat higher qualifying sides on the road in the semifinal (Waratahs) and final (Hurricanes).
The Landers might not have just knocked over a trio of superpowers, but on a travel schedule that has gone DunedinMelbourne-Suva-BrisbaneDunedin, they ought to be pretty chuffed with their work of late.
Their latest 61-10 demolition of the Force on Friday nightwas the biggest victory in the franchise’s history, and they now look a serious chance of making their win streak five, finishing the regular season by hosting the Waratahs then travelling to the Rebels.
It then looks set to be a trip to Eden Park for the quarterfinal, and they will surely have shown enough to put some nerves amongst the high-flying Blues, who relied on a late converted try to seal their 23-15 win over the Landers in last year’s transTasman decider there.
Brumbies are beatable
After three wins on the trot against Kiwi sides, the secondplaced Brumbies yet again found the Crusaders to be their kryptonite.
Their 37-26 defeat in Canberra on Friday nightwas their 11th straight defeat to the red and blacks, dating back to 2009, and was also an important psychological dent for some other sides to see ahead of the playoffs.
Amatch which promised so much proved not to really even be close. The only caveat was the Canberrans were missing outstanding blindside flanker Rob Valetini and talented young pivot Noah Lolesio.
The Brumbies now host the Blues on Saturday night in another intriguing one.
Franks’ huge memo to Foster
Ahead of his debut for the Hurricanes last weekend following an Achilles injury, 108-test former All Blacks tighthead prop Owen Franks confirmed he still wanted to once again feature at the highest level.
And in the wake of the Canes’ 22-18 fight-back win over the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday night, the 34-year-old has certainly dished up some food for thought. ABs coach Ian Foster mightwant his front-rowers to be mobile with good hands, but they also need to be able to scrum.
In front of a packed crowd at Leichhardt Oval, Tahs loosehead Angus Bell was having a field day and the visitors’ scrum was being sent backwards at a rate of knots, copping awhopping four penalties (not counting advantages) from 11 pack-downs.
Canes coach Jason Holland virtually had no option and come the 34th minute came the remarkable sight of both starting props – Xavier Numia and Tyrel Lomax – being hooked.
Franks immediately sorted out Bell, and in conjunction with Tevita Mafileo and Dane Coles (who entered straight after halftime), the Canes’ scrum underwent the most remarkable of turnarounds, with them all of a sudden being the ones to win penalties out of referee Jordan Way.
Lomax, a 13-test All Black, looked rightly disgusted when summoned to the sideline, and could it just be that his new domestic team-mate has shown him up so markedly to jump ahead of him in the national No 3 queue?