Cane unable
As painful as watching his team go down 31-18 to the Hurricanes, Chiefs stalwart Sam Cane will have been more worried to have been sidelined during the contest for yet another head knock. Having come back from a broken neck and warned youngsters against the dangers of playing on through concussions, the sight of the new All Blacks skipper flat on his back again is always a cringeworthy moment for any Kiwi rugby fan.
The Hurricanes treated their biggest home crowd of Super Rugby Aotearoa to a fifth successive victory last night as they sealed the winless Chiefs’ season of woe.
Sparked by a double from blockbusting centre Peter UmagaJensen, the Hurricanes got home 31-18 at Wellington’s Sky Stadium as coach Warren Gatland’s Chiefs ended 0-8 ahead of next weekend’s bye. How many would have predicted that two months ago?
It was way back on March 6 when the Chiefs last won a game: a 51-14 thrashing of the Waratahs in Wollongong. Now they’ve lost nine straight either side of lockdown, including three to the Hurricanes.
A worrying neck injury to All Blacks captain Sam Cane added to the Chiefs’ issues.
Replacement Billy Proctor’s late try also left the Hurricanes with a glimmer of hope as it clinched a bonus point, meaning if the Highlanders can upset the Crusaders today they still have a chance of topping the ladder. A very, very slim chance, as they move within one point of the second-placed Blues, with the Highlanders looming in Dunedin next weekend.
It was far from the best game seen at the Cake Tin this year but
Hurricanes 31
(Peter UmagaJensen 2, Dane Coles, Kobus van Wyk, Billy Proctor tries; Jordie Barrett 3 con) (Sean Wainui, Mitch Karpik tries; Damian McKenzie con, 2 pen). 12-3.
Chiefs 18 HT:
21,489 fans got enough farewell treats as their team in yellow rattled in five tries to two and had too much class, firepower and confidence.
The Hurricanes played most of the rugby in the first half and by rights should have been up by 20 at the break, rather than 12-3.
There was a familiar early script: the Chiefs luckless when Damian McKenzie’s penalty attempt hit the bar, before the hosts roared back when UmagaJensen charged over in the seventh minute.
Impressive pair Du’Plessis Kirifi and Ardie Savea both roamed wide and dangerously, and after many phases TJ Perenara’s flat ball hit the hardcharging centre perfectly as he dived over beside the posts.
Jordie Barrett featured constantly in the Hurricanes’ backline attack and they created more chances but, not for the first time, handling errors saw some tries go begging.
Barrett looked in trouble with a leg injury after colliding with
Naitoa Ah Kuoi but resumed his duties.
However, Cane wasn’t so fortunate. A nasty collision with Barrett gathering a kick left him lying prone with what looked a serious neck injury in shades of the scary scenes at Loftus Versfeld in October 2018. Thankfully Cane got up and walked away but his night was over in the 26th minute.
The Hurricanes’ scrum began to dominate and they created more chances giving the ball width. This time it clicked and Wes Goosen in his 50th match flipped a neat inpass to UmagaJensen who had a double.
Cane’s replacement, Mitch Karpik, pinched the ball from a try-bound rolling maul to further frustrate the hosts, then at the other end Kobus van Wyk got 10 in the sin bin just before halftime when tossing Brad Weber dangerously out of a ruck.
The Chiefs capitalised on 14 Hurricanes and roared back into it, Sean Wainui sliding over out wide from a big overlap. McKenzie’s sideline conversion was a ripper and the gap was down to two.
With van Wyk nearly back, a Barrett masterclass set up the next Canes try when he leapt high for a kick then put Vince Aso through a big gap. With Perenara just short, co-captain Dane Coles barged over out wide to restore the gap, as he departed for livewire Asafo Aumua with 30 minutes left.
With Savea stamping his mark on the contest on attack and defence, the match was the Hurricanes’ to seize. They made their next raid count, too, with Jackson Garden-Bachop’s pin