Hurricanes stay alive, for now
Victory over Reds maintains slim hopes of place in final
The Hurricanes will be hoping two of the Blues, Highlanders and Crusaders lose their final games of Super Rugby TransTasman after doing their bit by beating the Reds 43-14 at Sky Stadium last night to move top of the table.
Departing All Blacks midfielder Ngani Laumape scored the opening try and had a hand in the team’s second before receiving a standing ovation towards the end of the game as Jason Holland’s men kept their faint finals hopes alive with a bonus point win over the Super Rugby AU champions.
But there will be some real concern at All Blacks headquarters ahead of the upcoming international season after Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea limped off with another injury 10 minutes into the second half.
Savea winced in pain as he collided with a Reds player in a tackle and may have suffered a recurrence of the knee injury that kept him out for most of the Aotearoa campaign.
Laumape led the Hurricanes onto the field in his final appearance at Sky Stadium before joining French club Stade Francais, and four minutes later he was diving over the tryline after latching onto a short ball and bursting through the Reds’ defence to score the opening try following an attacking lineout.
He could have had a second, and even a third, but knocked the ball on in the act of scoring following a try-saving tackle from Filipo Daugunu in the first half, before Bryce Hegarty was shown a yellow card for batting the ball dead after beating Laumape in a foot race in the second half.
Laumape was given a standing ovation after being substituted in the 75th minute as the Hurricanes kept themselves in the hunt for an unlikely place in the Trans-Tasman final by scoring 33 points in a dominant second half.
Coles scored twice off the bench while
Ruben Love, Devan Flanders and a penalty try completed the rout.
The bonus point win took the Hurricanes to 21 points, two clear at the
top of the Trans-Tasman table, but they could finish as low as fourth if the Blues, Highlanders and Crusaders win their final round games.
The Highlanders were due to play the Brumbies in Canberra late last night on the ground where the Hurricanes lost last weekend, denting a huge blow to their hopes of winning some silverware after finishing last in Super Rugby Aotearoa.