The Hurricanes have extended Australia’s run of outs in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman – but not quite as emphatically as expected.
Fresh off putting 64 points on the NSW Waratahs, the Hurricanes needed more than an hour to put Melbourne to the sword in an entertaining 35-13 victory over the Rebels in Wellington.
Unlike their second-half surrender in a 50-3 shellacking at the hands of the Blues last week, the Rebels, even while down on troops, produced a vastly improved and spirited performance on Friday night.
“If you look back with about 20, 25 (minutes) to go, we were right in there,” said Rebels captain Matt To’omua.
“The scoreline blew out a little bit at the end there but they’re a classy team. You can’t give them much because they’ll take it.
“But I thought it was a fair old rugby match. I think both teams would agree with that. The game had everything.
“It had a lot of tries and even had a streaker so I think everyone got their money’s worth.”
Despite camping themselves on the Melbourne try line, the Hurricanes scored all 14 of their first-half points only while Rebels prop Cabous Eloff was in the sin bin between the 15th and 25th minutes.
And even the Hurricanes’ first try came against the run of play, with former All Blacks winger Julian Savea intercepting a pass from Rebels flyhalf Carter Gordon and racing 40 metres to score the opener.
Impressive centre Billy Proctor added the Hurricanes’ second and Jordie Barrett’s two conversions gave the hosts a 14-3 lead at the break, with the Rebels’ only points of the half coming via a Matt To’omua penalty goal.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images for the Melbourne Rebels)
But if the Canes thought the Rebels would fold like they did from a similar scoreline last start, they were mistaken.
The return of Wallabies forward Trevor Hosea and a clear commitment to defence dragged the Rebels back into the contest.
A Michael Wells try shortly after the interval, after a quick tap and sharp pass from Joe Powell, pulled the Rebels back to within six points of the Hurricanes.
But a second try to Savea – which leaves ‘The Bus’ just one shy of the Hurricanes’ all-time Super Rugby record of 56 from Christian Cullen and TJ Perenara – then another from fellow winger Wes Goosen in the space of ten minutes sealed the Rebels’ fate.
The Hurricanes’ fifth try seven minutes from fulltime clinched a bonus point.
“We had to work bloody hard to get a couple of tries in that first half. They stuck in there,” said Hurricanes skipper Dane Coles.
“But the mindset was to get the bonus point tonight and we did.”
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
I agree it was the speed where the Canes changed from defence to attack that they struggled with. The Canes had someone break through and immediately there were two support players with him. I thought the Rebels weren’t that bad. I’m not sure what’s happening with Koribete he seemed to be everywhere except his wing and a couple of poor plays on defence where he seemed to just give up too easily. I think it’s not so much “give it to Koribete” but created space for him and that’s just not happening
Johnny J-Dog
Guest
His first point was the selection of coach. But also hard to argue we would not have done better last year if we'd had Izzy in the team and it would have saved RA $4m+. Banks was ineffective.
Ben
Guest
The artcle reads like the Canes were lucky to win it...they only scored 14pts whilst Rebels prop was sin binned, Saveas first try was against the run of play... In reality the Canes were good for that 14pt lead and Eloffs binning could well have been a penalty try. To'omua missed a lot of crucial tackles. Good to see the Canes winning comfortably in what was at times a bit of a clunky performance. Like last week they never seemed to get out of 3rd gear. Goosen, Savea, Proctor, were all good. Up front Prinsep is the glue, often the unseen guy doing the dirty work. I think they are primed for a big one shortly.
Rebels were far better this week than last. I thought they played a good brand of rugby in attack and tried hard in defence. Their set play was mainly accurate and they basically just didnt handle the Canes speed in counter and the width they used when attacking. The missed tackle count and the kick metres tell me the reason they lost. Gordon looked ok but Toomua seemed to forget a lot who was the 10. They will be better again if they keep Goedan at 10 as they clearly need to get used to it. Harry and Geoff the only tipsters still in with a shot at a clean sweep and they went for different teams in the Chiefs Brumbies game so only 1 can go thru with a perfect round if their other tips are correct.
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
Sorry mate but if you think that homophobe with all his deficiencies that have never been addressed was going to be a savior for Australian rugby you’re not facing reality
Ducky
Guest
RA can only blame themselves for the terminal death spiral the code is in. If they’d replaced Cheika with Jake White in 2018, it may have sparked something and many fans wouldn’t have walked away. But when they didn’t and they sacked Folau in the ultimate virtue signalling act, there was no turning back. The Wallabies and their provincial sides are barely a shadow of what they once were (the provincial sides that matter anyhow). The code is burning it will never recover.