Savea thrilled by team’s fightback
A skyrocketing penalty count, two yellow cards and a confident Queensland Reds side threatened to make the Hurricanes’ visit to Melbourne a nightmare on Saturday night.
Trailing 17-0 with 30 minutes gone in the Super Rugby Pacific match at AAMI Stadium, the Ardie Savea-led Hurricanes had to address their ill-discipline and errors to prevent themselves becoming the first Kiwi victims in the trans-Tasman component of the competition.
No worries, mate.
The Hurricanes eventually ran out 30-17 winners to ensure they, along with the Chiefs and the Blues, were unbeaten in the first three games of the ‘‘Super Round’’ in the Victorian capital city.
With centre Bailyn Sullivan and prop Pouri Rakete-Stones yellow carded, as well as being down 9-2 in the penalty count early in the game, the Hurricanes’ potent attacking game deserted them as the pressure mounted.
Then, suddenly, the Canes finally got a break. And when that happened, it signalled the end of the Reds’ hopes of landing a punch in the face – metaphorically speaking – of their more vaunted Kiwis opponents.
A runaway try to Sullivan in the 36th minute, thanks to teammate and right wing Julian Savea slapping an opposition pass to the grass, swung the momentum in favour of the visitors and they trailed by just three points at halftime.
Afterwards, skipper Ardie Savea said he was puzzled at his team’s slow start, but had good reason to welcome its spirited fightback.
‘‘I don’t know why it exactly happened, but, you know, we got a few calls that didn’t go our way and I amjust proud of the lads to stick in there,’’ Savea said.
‘‘And coming out and putting in a performance like that, finishing like that, it was pretty cool.’’
Had the Reds, who were without Wallaby backs James O’Connor and Jordan Petaia, been able to accumulate more points to stretch their lead they may been more confident in the second spell.
Instead, it was clear the Hurricanes had wrenched back control.
Jordie Barrett, having moved back to fullback after recent games at No 12, admitted the Hurricanes didn’t help themselves.
‘‘We were our own worst enemy there,’’ Barrett stated. ‘‘We gave the referee and the Reds some opportunities through some inaccuracies with the ball, and through some of our tackle techniques. It was ours to fix and once we did that we took control of the game, got some momentum and turned it around.’’
Meanwhile, in the earlier game on Saturday, the Blues recorded an unflattering 35-18 win over the Fijian Drua.
Despite the Blues fielding a much stronger side on paper, the Drua proved extremely competitive at the breakdown and had more than their share of possession.
Intercept tries on either side of halftime helped the Blues extinguish the threats presented by the Drua, with a five-pointer to Rieko Ioane in the 51st minute extending the lead to 21-13.
On Friday night, the Chiefs walloped the Waratahs 51-27, with wing James Lowe grabbing four tries.
In the first 10 minutes the New South Welshmen were reduced to 13 men when prop Angus Bell was red carded for a dangerous tackle, and centre Jamie Roberts was yellow carded for deliberately knocking the ball down.
They also lost both hookers David Porecki and Tom Horton to injury.
The fixture between Moana Pasifika and the Western Force was postponed because of an outbreak of Covid-19 in the Force.
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