Hurricanes vs Stormers: Canes by 6

Match result:

The Hurricanes have earned a hard-fought win over the Stormers by 34 points to 28 in Wellington as Round 6 continues.

The bookies had it down as a straight forward win for the Hurricanes but it was the Stormers who started the stronger and got out to a quick 0-6 lead thanks to a couple of quick penalties.

They were playing with both pace and intensity and it was clear that their forwards were going to be asked to do a lot of the heavy lifting throughout the game.

However as the first half progressed, the Canes started to get themselves into the game. While they were struggling to cope up front with the Stormers power and set piece, the Canes were able to run the South Africans around quite a bit and there were signs that the Stormers were beginning to struggle with the pace surprisingly early on.

This led to the Canes scoring two tries in the middle of the first half as first May and then Jordie Barrett went over. It was beginning to look like the home side might run away it and the Stormers had to work very hard to stop the lead getting away from them.

In times of trouble the Stormers do have the line out as a great weapon and they used it to great success in the first half.

It was so hard for the Canes to stop and it helped get the Stormers a couple of tries before half time as both Kolisi and then the firey Mbonambi went over.

That second one was scored in very bizarre circumstances – the whistle had gone for half time the players thought and many of them had headed to the tunnel to get their half time orange. However the ref had seen a head high tackle and not only sin binned Fifita but then the Stormers went to the corner and scored the try.

It was a strong end to the half for the visitors and the Canes would have been frustrated at half time. As usual the first 10 minutes of the second half were going to be key as both sides looked to make a move.

Both teams scored in the opening period of the second half as Goosen picked up two tries for the home side and Coetzee picked one up for the Stormers.

Goosen’s finishes especially were impressive – in both instances he had no space and men to beat but he made it look easy as he used both pace and then power to dot down for two tries.

Although the Stormers were in the lead for much of the half they never looked in control and it did feel like the Canes would create a decent chance at some point – could they take advantage of it though?

Well yes – they could. Unsurprisingly it was Beauden Barrett who took control of the final score. It was a great passage where the home side made several breaks and eventually Beauden saw enough of a gap to use his pace to get through and over the line.

Once they had the lead, the Canes didn’t really look like losing it. The Stormers certainly had their chances but they all revolved around the line out and the Canes were able to figure out how to defend against it and stop it being such a weapon.

It was an entertaining game and while the scores look close, the Canes were definitely the better side. The Stormers fought hard but their attack is a bit too one dimensional.

Their pack did really well and had the better of the Canes in many instances but the Canes were clever and forced the big South Africans to do a lot of tackling.

The Stormers made 176 tackles in the game compared to the 96 of the Canes. That work rate ended up sucking a lot of energy from the Stormers and that hurt them in the end.

The Stormers are going to be a hard team to beat for many this season but you do feel that they need to pose more threats to the opposition if they want to compete with the best.

The Canes will be happy to pick up another win but they will know that they should have won that game more comfortably. They had a lot of talent rested this week but they will have wanted a slightly sharper performance today.

Final score
Hurricanes 34
Stormers 28

Match preview:

The Hurricanes will look to get back into winning ways and halt the momentum of the Stormers as Round 6 comes to Wellington in this Kiwi – South Africa clash.

The Stormers haven’t won in New Zealand in their last ten matches but they will have the confidence that they can break this poor run. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of this exciting clash starting from 5:35pm AEDT.

The Stormers got hammered in their first match of the season by the Bulls but since then have put together a great run of three straight wins including beating last year’s finalists, the Lions.

They’ve shown that they can fight hard and win tight games which is always a valuable skill to have, but they will need to be on top form to topple a talent filled Hurricanes side.

Unfortunately for the visitors, they will be missing talismanic second row Eben Etzebeth who hasn’t fully recovered from a recent concussion.

Etzebeth is much more than an enforcer – although he does scare the hell out of people! – and the Stormers will miss his skill in the set-piece and his powerful running in the loose.

Despite the loss of Etzebeth, the Stormers will have an impressive pack and look for their dangerous back row which includes two experienced Springboks in Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi, and a Springbok Under 20 player in Juarno Augustus. If these three play well then the Canes could be in trouble.

For the home side there have been a few changes that again should give Stormers fans reason to smile. Try machine Ngani Laumape is being rested as are Dan Coles and TJ Perenara.

All three are obviously top class players and the absence of Perenara really does present a great bonus for the South Africans. Perenara has been on good form in the early stages of this season and arguably better than first choice All Blacks scrum-half Aaron Smith.

Of course it’s not all good news for the Stormers – while Laumape is out, Jordie Barrett is hardly a bad replacement and the Stormers will be well aware of how he and his brother can cut teams to pieces with their pace and creativity.

Ardie Savea has had a great start to the season with a number of critical turnovers at key moments. To see him go up against the Stormers back row is going to be a fantastic clash.

Prediction
The Stormers have some scary power and talent up front and some great pace out wide. However it feels like the halves are going to be crucial in this match and it’s hard to look past Beauden Barrett for the Canes. He’s not the only reason the home side will win but he is definitely a major factor.

Hurricanes to win by 7 points.

Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEDT on Saturday.

Where: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Date: Saturday 23 March 2019
When: 5:35pm AEDT
TV: Fox Sports
Betting: Hurricanes $1.17, Stormers $4.90

Hurricanes
15 Chase Tiatia
14 Wes Goosen
13 Matt Proctor
12 Jordie Barrett
11 Ben Lam
10 Beauden Barrett (c)
9 Richard Judd
8 Reed Prinsep
7 Ardie Savea
6 Vaea Fifita
5 Liam Mitchell
4 James Blackwell
3 Ben May
2 Ricky Riccitelli
1 Fraser Armstrong

Replacements
16 James O’Reilly
17 Xavier Numia
18 Jeff To’omaga-Allen
19 Isaia Walker-Leawere
20 Sam Henwood
21 Finlay Christie
22 Fletcher Smith
23 Danny Toala

Stormers
15 Dillyn Leyds
14 Sergeal Petersen
13 Ruhan Nel
12 Damian de Allende
11 SP Marais
10 Jean-Luc du Plessis
9 Herschel Jantjies
8 Juarno Augustus
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit
6 Siya Kolisi (c)
5 Chrisvan Zyl
4 JD Schickerling
3 Frans Malherbe
2 Bongi Mbonambi
1 Steven Kitshoff

Replacements
16 Scarra Ntubeni
17 Corne Fourie
18 Wilco Louw
19 Salmaan Moerat
20 Jaco Coetzee
21 Justin Phillips
22 Dan du Plessis
23 Damian Willemse

Referee: Glen Jackson
Assistant Referees: Nick Briant and Ben O’Keeffe
TMO: Glenn Newman

2019 Form
Hurricanes – DWWLW
Stormers – WWWL

Played 19
Hurricanes won 8
Stormers won 11
Drawn 0