Showdown shapes as a big mid-year exam
Call it the big mid-year exam.
There’s no school holidays in Super Rugby Pacific. Instead, the Hurricanes and Chiefs are rolling into class with some significant marks to be attained.
More important tests await in two months, of course, but tonight’s showdown in Wellington shapes as an important gauge for both teams as to whether they really may be able to come out top of the class.
Each of them has been studious to date, their attendance a thing sure to please the new Government (even if the Chiefs have skipped a couple of classes along the way), and earning top scores on several pieces of work handed in.
But now comes an assignment that Clark Laidlaw has been pondering and preparing for for the best part of 11 months, since he was named Hurricanes coach.
Having set the pace last year before tripping at that final hurdle, the Chiefs are still on the hunt for a first title since 2013, and despite blips against the Reds and Crusaders so far this season, lurk in fourth spot, four points off the pace, coming off the biggest win in their history, and still competition favourites at the TAB.
So, being the only unbeaten team in the competition, having gone into last round’s bye a perfect 6-0, which has included wins over the other three Kiwi sides, is this now the Hurricanes’ biggest test of the season sofar,then?
“I would think so,” Laidlaw said. “We’ve got a lot of respect for how the Chiefs can play. From my end, getting to watch them last season, not being involved in Super Rugby, they were the best team, up until that last game.”
Equally, the Chiefs are primed to see where they are really at, too, having mixed brilliance with periods of switching off, and not enjoying the same kind of dominance they had through 2023.
“Obviously it’s a great opportunity for us to test ourselves against the frontrunners in the competition, make no bones about that,” coach Clayton McMillan said.
“And whatever comes out of it will be lessons that will hopefully put us in good stead for the back end of the season when it gets real serious.”
The Chiefs have made a recent habit of beating the Hurricanes, winning the past five contests, but McMillan felt the Canes now presented a stiffer challenge thanks not only to their confidence from getting on a winning run, but to a much-improved set-piece.
“It’s an area that we, and a lot of the teams, I think, used to have a go at them,” he admitted.
“But it’s improved significantly and become a real weapon for them. We always like to think it starts up front, and they’re doing a really good job of setting a good platform for their exciting backs to play the game that they want to play.”
The big question now, though, is how much of a threat the Hurricanes still present without the service of outstanding five-test All Black Cam Roigard, who is sidelined for at least six months with a knee injury.
“It’s obvious, losing Cam’s disappointing for him and for us, but if you wanted somebody to come in, it’d be an 80-test halfback, 154 Super Rugby games,” Laidlaw said in reference to veteran TJ Perenara now being the starting No 9, and being very much ready for the role.
“If you know TJ, he probably thought he was going to be starting every week,” Laidlaw quipped, adding that he believed his side’s game style, or specific plays, would not need altering with Roigard’s absence.
McMillan, too, didn’t feel the Hurricanes would lose all that much at the base of the scrum (though Richard Judd’s introduction from the bench later on could prove interesting). “TJ looks like he’s come back hungry, and he’s the spiritual hub of that team, has been for a long time. And I know that he’ll be wanting to go out there and make a statement.”
He and 45 others, all seeking those A+ grades.