Solving the Hurricanes riddle

The frustration of being a Hurricanes fan has continued, as the Chiefs ended the hopes of even the most optimistic of Canes supporters with their win over the Blues on Friday night.

It’s been another season of the sublime, mixed with disbelief and a sprinkle of excitement and topped off with a dose of sadness.

As we lower the curtain on the Mark Hammett chapter in Hurricanes history, this season has been the best of that era. A 7th place overall, yet only 4th in New Zealand’s conference means we’ve fallen short of the playoffs once again.

To add salt to the wound, the Hurricanes have managed to beat the best New Zealand franchise home-and-away this year and have still managed to miss the finals.

I have discussed this year’s season with many people, and have pointed to clutch games such as the Blues game away and the recent Chiefs game to suggest the Hurricanes are simply not good enough when the pressure is on. It’s hard to argue with considering the results.

This leaves me to wonder, why is a team that regularly provides a high number of All Blacks during one of their best periods unable to replicate those performances at Super Rugby level?

A further examination of the general stats also proves frustrating, as the Hurricanes are featuring heavily at the top end of many measures. First for defenders beaten, second for tries, clean breaks, carries and metres, and even further frustration was caused when I noted how similar their statistics were when compared with the table-topping Waratahs.

Was the defence a weakness? Perhaps at times, especially when one thinks back to the Waratahs game where a 20-point lead was surrendered meekly, yet the Hurricanes conceded 374 points this season, sixth best, and hold a 64-point differential (fourth best). To add to that, they are second overall for points scored. I do not believe defence was the major issue.

The inconsistent nature of the team’s performances shine through, with winnable games against the Stormers and Highlanders not converted, yet a 40-point victory against another finalist this season in the Chiefs registered at home.

Inconsistent. A word synonymous with Hurricanes rugby and despite the best efforts of Mark Hammett and his team it is still pertinent.

The reasons for this inconsistency? I found myself going around in circles trying to find some answer within the stats, like trying to unlock the Da Vinci code, but one stat that did stand out to me was offloads – fifth in total with 164 but well behind the Waratahs who have amassed a whopping 231.

That tells me we have not worked hard enough when in possession to keep the ball alive and create opportunities as the Waratahs have. When you think of the title-holding Chiefs of the past two seasons, offloads and keeping the ball alive were major factors in their title wins.

This also has the enhanced benefit of complimenting your defence, the more you play with ball in hand the less tackles one needs to make and the more your opposition does, wearing them down.

I would also suggest the Hurricanes have kicked too often and inaccurately, the Chiefs and Blues matches highlighted above are perfect examples of this. For a team with obvious strengths playing with ball in hand this again would prove frustrating, tactically unable to adapt or execute on the big occasions.

The Hurricanes under Hammett have often been found wanting tactically and I believe this team have generally not employed structures or game plans which ultimately suited the playing squad.

One only has to look to Sydney to find a possible answer. I have made comparisons to the Waratahs above, not just because they have finished the round robin in first place but also because the strengths and abilities within their squad closely reflect the same attributes within the Hurricanes.

Emulating Michael Cheika’s men would not be a bad idea.

I recently described the Waratahs as playing with pace, power and width and that is how I would like to be able to describe the Hurricanes in future years.

There has been unanimous praise in the appointment of the new Hurricanes coaching staff in Chris Boyd and John Plumtree, so optimism is high for 2015 and a new chapter in the franchise’s history.

With the recent re-signing of Beauden Barrett, the return of Jason Woodward, along with the rumoured return of Ma’a Nonu, a strong playing roster appears to be brewing.

However ‘Plumboyd’ will have a few holes to fill in next year’s squad.

The departures of Alapati Leuia, Tim Bateman, Faifili Levave and Jack Lam leave some depth issues in midfield and in the loose forwards. I look forward to seeing how these holes are plugged.

I would also like to think a lock in the mould of Brodie Retallick is also on the recruitment agenda, as the second row is an area the Hurricanes have traditionally lacked dominant performers.

Those player issues aside, the biggest challenge for the new coaching team will be solving the riddle of the Hurricane’s inconsistency.

The Waratahs have provided a fair blueprint to solve this riddle and I eagerly wait, once again, with optimism and hope to see what this new era of Hurricanes rugby ushers in for 2015. Hopefully, the results I believe this franchise is capable of will eventuate.