Hurricanes seeking perfection
The Hurricanes just want a little satisfaction to go with their wins.
The players in the second-placed Super Rugby side have often cut lugubrious, woebegone figures after most of their six wins this season.
Loose forward Reed Prinsep said that was because they have not been able to put together a complete performance since the 43-13 demolition of the Brumbies in Palmerston North in week three. The other five wins have all been by six points of fewer.
‘‘It’s good that we are winning those close games. We’ve come back from being behind at halftime to get victories, but it’s not satisfying. We want that complete performance.
‘‘You’ve still got to enjoy the moment because you’ve got the win, but deep down you know there is work to do to get where we want to get to.’’
Their next attempt at that is against the Chiefs at Westpac Stadium in Wellington tonight.
They played out one of their other incomplete performances against the Chiefs in a 23-23 draw in week five.
Hurricanes captain TJ Perenara said they would take some lessons from that game, but said the Chiefs would be a different prospect this weekend without the injured Damian McKenzie or Brodie Retallick, on All Blacks enforced leave.
‘‘Last time we played the Chiefs up there, they had a different outfit, we had a different outfit, the time of the season is different, what’s on the line is different, so each time you treat it separately.
‘‘You learn from what you did wrong in the last game, or things you did well, and what the other team did, but our game has adapted and adjusted since we last met, and their game has too."
That match saw the Hurricanes fail to capitalise on many opportunities down the Chiefs’ end of the field, which has been a common problem for them this season.
Perenara said it comes down to individuals not executing their skills well.
‘‘We’re fighting back in games to win, and you need to be able to do that in this competition, but we’re putting ourselves in bad positions through our errors a lot of the time.
‘‘That’s the core of it, so for us we need to eliminate our own errors and play a more accurate game for a longer period of time so that instead of fighting back in games, we want to put teams away.’’
Chiefs: