HURRICANES SURGE INTO SUPER RUGBY FINAL
The Hurricanes progressed to their first Super Rugby Final since 2006 after beating the Brumbies 29-9 in Saturday’s Semi-Final in Wellington.
The ‘Canes will now host the winners of the second Semi-Final between the Waratahs and Highlanders in next weekend’s final at Westpac Stadium and they deserve nothing less having been the standout team of the tournament this year.
The Hurricanes led 12-3 at the interval thanks to tries from wing Julian Savea and scrumhalf TJ Perenara, who moved level with Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo as the season’s top try scorer.
Flanker Ardie Savea followed his brother’s example by crossing early in the second period before replacement back Matt Proctor added the fourth unanswered try in the closing stages.
The Brumbies hardly had a sniff of the ball in a high-paced first half and could have considered themselves lucky to not by trailing by a lot more.
The Hurricanes’ ruthless counter-attacking ability, a hallmark of their brilliant season, was once again on display with All Black-in-waiting Nehe Milner-Skudder and Ma’a Nonu leading the charge.
The ‘Canes pack was also on top, as expecting in the scrums, but also ensuring their deadly backs had quality possession from the breakdown and lineouts.
The Brumbies briefly got some momentum in the middle of the second half but they never realistically looked like threatening to cause an upset as their hosts dominated in almost every sector.
The Brumbies did a sterling job on defence to keep the scores will locked at 0-0 at the end of the first quarter in the face of numerous attacks from the home side, but the damn wall couldn’t hold forever.
Eventually it took the power of Julian Savea to produce the first try as he bumped off Nic White to go over in the corner following Nonu’s quick hands to get it wide.
Having struck the post with an earlier penalty, Beauden Barrett sent his conversion effort wide and the fly-half as was a touch lucky to escape more serious punishment than a penalty for some overzealous use of his shoe on Rory Arnold’s back as the Brumbies lock lay on the wrong side of a ruck with the ‘Canes pushing for another try.
The TMO couldn’t find evidence of Reggie Goodes getting the ball down in that incident but the hosts’ second try wasn’t long in coming as Milner-Skudder drew three defenders out wide before James Marshall provided the link for Perenara to scamper home on the counter attack.
This time Barrett did hit the target to put the ‘Canes 12-0 up approaching the half-hour mark.
With Christian Lealiifano in the blood bin, it was left to Jesse Mogg to open the Brumbies account with a penalty on the stroke of halftime.
The writing was on the wall as Ardie Savea crashed over at the back of a maul early in the second half with Marshall’s conversion stretching the lead to 16 points.
Mogg fluffed a chance to score as he knocked on with the tryline begging and the Brumbies pack grafted hard to allow Lealiifano to slot two penalties to drag the visitors back into contention.
But the men in yellow quickly took control of the game back with a penalty from Marshall keeping the Brumbies at arm’s length before a break from Nonu set up the opportunity for Proctor to charge over.
Marshall’s second conversion meant the home side had a 20-point gap in the dying minutes, which was a fair reflection of their dominance in another impressive display.
A maiden Super Rugby title beckons.
Courtesy of SANZAR
Related Posts
« HIGHLANDERS SET UP NZ-DERBY FINAL AUCKLAND PREMIER RUGBY RESULTS »
