Hurricanes blow Rebels’ hopes away

Despite a flurry of late changes, the men from the capital got the job done comfortably, writes Marc Hinton.

The Hurricanes are finishing Super Rugby Pacific with a wet sail – though it still may not be enough to secure an all-important home quarterfinal.

Last night in the capital the Canes made short work of the beleaguered Melbourne Rebels, who crashed to their fifth defeat in the last six matches and saw their own post-season hopes turn to dust. The home side, despite having to make five late changes to their lineup after a dose of the good old ‘flu ran through the team, cantered to victory in their home finale with seven tries to three.

With their third win on the bounce and sixth in the last seven, the Hurricanes improve to 8-5 and 38 competition points, but sit three points behind the fourth-placed Chiefs and will need results to go their way over the final round of the regular season to clinch a home quarterfinal.

The Chiefs wrap things up at the Fijian Drua in Lautoka – no gimme, by any means – and the Hurricanes conclude with a visit to the Force in Perth. A win to both Kiwi sides would see the men from Hamilton host the Canes in a quarterfinal.

Julian Savea was the standout performer in the home side, who were able to muster just the one training run through the week amid their illness issues. He ran for a team-high 136 metres with five tackle busts and a trio of clean breaks, while skipper TJ Perenara was not far behind him with a busy display.

Jordie Barrett, who played both second-five and fullback, impressed with his physicality on the carry while Du’Plessis Kirifi was the best of the forwards with 56 metres on the carry and 11 tackles made. Fellow loosie TK Howden led the Canes on defence with 13 stops without a miss.

The Rebels had their moments, got a hat-trick of tries from replacement wing Lukas Ripley, but lacked discipline and accuracy.

The Canes pretty much put the match on ice over the first 40min, steaming to a 26-8 halftime advantage with four tries to one as they punished the visitors for their illdiscipline. Not bad for a side that had to bring in two new hookers (James O’Reilly and Siua Maile), Josh Moorby on to the left wing and Cam Roigard and Peter Umaga-Jensen to the bench in a late reshuffle. Dane Coles, Asafo Aumua, Salesi Rayasi, Jamie Booth and Wes Goosen were the withdrawals.

All four first-half scores for the home side came via the lineout option off penalty, with Savea finishing a crisp backline move for his 57th career try all time, Billy Proctor slicing through off a nice short ball from Perenara, Blake Gibson notching one from the drive and lock James Blackwell put clean through by Barrett after Ruben Love had provided the early razzle-dazzle.

The visitors briefly threatened a comeback when replacement back Ripley crossed for his second try early to narrow the deficit to 11, but the Canes regained momentum.

Big moment

The Rebels flipped momentum early in the second spell with a well-taken 7-pointer, but the 56th

min try from replacement Canes hooker Maile, off the back of another steaming run from Savea, restored order for the home side.

Match rating: 6/10

Some decent enough rugby from the home side, but the Rebels are struggling to live with the swift pace and skilful execution of the Kiwi teams.

The big picture

Talk about two teams going in opposite directions. The Hurricanes are finishing the round-robin in some style, with six wins from their last seven, while the poor old Rebels are sinking without trace – their postseason hopes now in the trash can.

MVP

Look no further than Julian Savea. ‘The Bus’ could still be an option at the highest level.