Rueful Canes Coach hopeful over retention
Hurricanes coach Jason Holland could not help but think back to the previous week’s costly defeat and wonder what if, when the fulltime whistle blew in Friday’s 43-14 win over the Reds.
Holland knew, had they not stumbled against the Brumbies in Canberra the week prior, a bonus point win over the Reds would have guaranteed the Hurricanes a place in the Super Rugby TransTasman final.
Instead, he was left to rue one slip up after finishing two points behind the Blues and Highlanders, who will contest the final in Auckland this Saturday.
A place in the Trans-Tasman final would have likely made up for the Hurricanes finishing last in Super Rugby Aotearoa.
‘‘I’m always pretty tough on myself initially and winning two games out of eight earlier in the year and four out of five here is something you wouldn’t really consider a successful season as far as results,’’ Holland said.
‘‘There are three games we should have won in the New Zealand comp; the two Chiefs games and the extra-time game against the Crusaders, which probably put a different spin on our season.
‘‘But it gives us clear things to look at for how we approach next year, and a big part of that is how we manage close games and make sure you win big moments. I know it’s a bit of a cliche but it’s massive to understand what it takes to win a game of footy.’’
Now their Super Rugby season is over for another year, attention will quickly turn to player retention for 2022 with off-contract All Blacks stars Ardie Savea and Jordie Barrett top priority after losing Ngani Laumape to French club Stade Francais.
Savea was forced off the field early in the second half against the Reds with what appeared to be a recurrence of the knee injury that kept him out of most of the Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign, but Holland hoped it would not rule Savea out of upcoming All Blacks tests.
‘‘It is the same knee, which is a little bit of a worry, but he’s not feeling like he did when he [first] did it, so hopefully, fingers
‘‘I know it’s a bit of a cliche but it’s massive to understand what it takes to win a game of footy.’’
Canes coach Jason Holland reflects on his team’s near misses
crossed, he’s going to be OK.’’
Neither Savea nor Barrett has committed to playing for the Hurricanes beyond this year, but Holland said he was confident of
keeping hold of the star duo after luring halfback TJ Perenara back from Japan and signing former All Blacks Owen Franks and Dominic Bird to significantly bolster the team’s tight five.
‘‘I’m pretty optimistic,’’ Holland said. ‘‘Ards is one that definitely likes to leave things till [the end of the season], get the footy out of the way and then start those conversations, but she’s looking pretty positive with Jordie – we’ve had some positive chats and I’m pretty confident there.
‘‘I am pretty confident, but you never say never until these things are done.’’
Holland would also like to recruit another first-five, although he was pleased with the development of teenager Ruben Love, who capped off a promising debut season with a second half try against the Reds.
‘‘We always need to make sure at 10 we’re solid so there’s probably one more spot there we need to fill,’’ he said.
‘‘Let’s not forget Rubes is probably just as capable at 15 as he is at 10, so we’ll see what happens in that space.
‘‘The last four to five weeks have been awesome for him and it will be good to see him kick on with the Wellington Lions.’’
As for the format, Holland was gutted to have lost South Africa’s involvement in Super Rugby, but said his preference was to have the teams from New Zealand and Australia contest the one competition next year.
‘‘You can’t play the same four teams over and over for everybody’s sake. While we look forward to those games, if you have to keep playing the same opposition over and over everybody is going to get a bit bored of it.
‘‘It was a stop-gap thing with Covid, and it was an awesome competition, but if we’ve got the option, we need to play the Aussie teams.’’