Canes prepare to be taken to the dark side
Bullied one week, niggled the next.
At least the Hurricanes can’t complain they don’t know what’s coming from the Chiefs tonight.
The Chiefs won both encounters with the Hurricanes last year, on the back of taking them on physically and verbally. Now, having watched the Sharks push the Hurricanes 38-37 in Napier last week, there’s no prizes for guessing what the Chiefs will dish up at Westpac Stadium.
‘‘They’re a type of team that likes to get in the dark places and be sort of niggly. What we can do is park that to the side and take it out in our contact and our carries and our tackles,’’ Hurricanes captain Brad Shields said.
They’ve seen what happens when they don’t. Not just against the Chiefs, either. For those Hurricanes who don’t remember last year’s 26-18 and 17-14 losses to the Chiefs, the Sharks game ought to be educational.
‘‘We got bullied a little bit and we gave away the gain-line too easily, which put us under the pump for a lot of the game,’’ said Shields.
That doesn’t sit well with the skipper. ‘‘It’s disappointing because every week we go out there and we want to be physical and we want to be a dominant forward pack and dominant in our carries, dominant in our cleanouts. Even in the backline [we want to be] dominant in our line speed.’’
And yet, from 27-19 at halftime and then 37-28, the Hurricanes found a way to come back and beat the Sharks. Shields drove a lot of that; both with his composure and a certainty that they’d find a way to win.
‘‘That’s the confidence that I’ve got in our team,’’ he said.
‘‘If we have guys with the same mentality and we’ve all got belief, and some of us can drive that, it goes a long way to winning the game. The learning we can take out of that and the detail we managed to pull off in those final minutes was pretty special.
‘‘We could easily have rolled over and given up. Not given up - we’d never give up - but we could’ve easily lost that. But the confidence and the ability for us to just take a breath and regroup and try and swing that momentum worked really well for us.’’
Which brings us to the Chiefs. A hip injury has forced them to bracket
"They're a type of team that likes to get in the dark places and be sort of niggly."
Hurricanes captain Brad Shields on the Chiefs
Damian McKenzie with brother Marty, at first five-eighth. Both are more than handy game-drivers, and then there’s the quality of fullback Charlie Ngatai and centre Anton Lienert-Brown.
An impressive pack is headlined by Brodie Retallick and Sam Cane, with able support from Lachlan Boshier, Taleni Seu and Nathan Harris.
‘‘They’re obviously quite physical at the breakdown and they like to slow the other team’s ball down,’’ Shields said.
‘‘[It’s about] just being aware that they can play from anywhere. Even when the ball goes out of play, you’ve still got to stay switched on and you’ve got to try and shut down opportunities for them.
‘‘They’ve got a couple of key playmakers but if we let them run and dictate the game, it’s going to be a long day at the office.’’
Halfback TJ Perenara’s knee injury is a worry for the Hurricanes. But they welcome back first five-eighth Beauden Barrett, prop Toby Smith and centre Matt Proctor from injury, while ballrunning lock Vaea Fifita has been restored to the starting XV.