Caning in capital as Fijian Drua blown away
The Hurricanes have kept themselves in contention for Super Rugby Pacific’s generous finals format after cruising to a 67-5 victory over Fijian Drua at Sky Stadium yesterday.
Although they were coming off a defeat to the Brumbies the previous weekend, Hurricanes chose to rest All Blacks Ardie Savea and Jordie Barrett for the Drua’s first visit to New Zealand.
But they did not skip a beat without the star duo with replacement fullback Josh Moorby scoring a hat-trick in Barrett’s absence to cap off a strong performance in the No 15 jersey.
The first two of Moorby’s tries came from attacking lineouts inside the first 40 minutes as the Hurricanes took a 26-0 lead in the halftime break before running away with the game to record their biggest win of the season.
Four of the home team’s 11 tries came from attacking lineouts with the Drua unable to deal with the slick passing and movement of the Hurricanes’ backline.
The Drua got off to an ominous start when they failed to gather the kickoff and while they managed to withstand some early pressure, the floodgates opened once Moorby opened the scoring in the 14th minute.
After a couple of cracks at the line the Hurricanes flung the ball wide and Asafo Aumua was able to dive over unmarked on the right.
Further tries to Moorby and Billy Proctor extended their lead heading into halftime and the Hurricanes did not let up in the second half.
Wes Goosen scored two tries in the first 10 minutes of the second 40, the first from an attacking lineout and the second following a strong burst from No 8 Tyler Laubscher, who put in a monster performance on debut.
Laubscher set up a second try by throwing an offload for IsaiaWalker Leawere.
Salesi Rayasi and Proctor added to the rout before Moorby completed his hat-trick, finishing off a set-piece move from an attacking scrum.
Justin Sangster then sealed the win when he crashed over in the 78th minute following an initial break from Cam Roigard.
108-test All Blacks prop Owen Franks saw 30 minutes on Hurricanes debut after coming on to replace Tyrel Lomax.
The Drua finally pulled one back in the 65th minute when substitute Jackson Garden-Bachop had a kick charged down, resulting in a scrum five metres out.
The Drua went to the blindside and Onisi Ratave broke two tackles to dot down.
Nineteen-year-old Riley Higgins became the youngest ever player to play for the Hurricanes when he was brought on in the final 20 minutes, but it was not a memorable debut for the outside back, yellow carded for a lift tackle in the dying seconds.
The big moment
There was no way back for the Drua when Goosen scored two minutes into the second half to
extend the Hurricanes’ lead to 31.
Match rating 4/10.
This felt like a training run at times. The Hurricanes scored lots of tries but Fijian Drua were barely in the contest.
The big picture
The Hurricanes remain seventh, now just two points below the Reds, but crucially they have opened up a 14-point gap on the ninth-placed Melbourne Rebels with just three rounds remaining.
MVP
Moorby stepped into Jordie Barrett’s boots with aplomb, scoring hat-trick of tries, carrying 129 metres and beating eight defenders during a standout performance at fullback.