The Hurricanes are the first team into the Super Rugby Final after defeating the Brumbies 29-9 in Wellington. The Hurricanes dominated the game and the score could have been more impressive if they took their chances.
The Match
It was an intense opening period with both sides showing their hand early with the Brumbies on attack early only to be held out by good defence from the Hurricanes and then had their own chance to score after a Nehe Milner-Skudder chip kick but was knocked on.
The home side were awarded a penalty from the resulting scrum and Beauden Barrett stepped up for a shot at goal but his attempt hit the post and was unsuccessful.
That only sparked the Hurricanes into action with the Brumbies struggling to contain the big ball runners including the Savea brothers who were attracting plenty of would be defenders and kept their side camped inside the Brumbies 22 as the missed tackles started to rack up.
Julian Savea went closest to opening the scoring off a cross field chip kick from Beauden Barrett but he dropped the ball with only Jesse Mogg in his way to the line.
The scrum battle in the opening 20 minutes was a bit of a lottery with the Hurricanes just in front but eventually the weight of possession was too much for the Brumbies with Julian Savea barging over in the left corner.
With the Brumbies on the back foot, the Hurricanes thought they had scored again but the TMO ruled the ball wasn’t grounded with the only thing landed was Barrett’s boots on Rory Arnold’s back.
Milner-Skudder was causing havoc down the right wing and was the architect of the next Hurricanes try with a well worked move down his wing wing in the five metre channel that saw TJ Perenara score. Barrett’s conversion made it 12-0 after 30 minutes.
The Brumbies finally got a chance to attack in the Hurricanes 22 after the opening period and were slowly edging towards the line but were penalised with Ben Alexander cleaning out beyond the ruck to let the Hurricanes off the hook.
The Hurricanes looked threatening to score again but their handling was letting them down as they attempted to keep the ball in play.
Just before half time the Brumbies received a lifeline with a penalty goal to Jesse Mogg to reduce the gap to 9 points that could have been much more if the Hurricanes had been more clinical with their 61% possession and a whopping 29 missed tackles from the Brumbies.
Things didn’t get any better at the start of the second half with the Brumbies struggling to get out of their own half then copping a dose of their own medicine with the Hurricanes scoring off the back of a rolling maul to Ardie Savea.
They did add second penalty goal after 50 minutes to Christian Lealiifano who had returned to the field sporting a shiner after going off towards the end of the first half.
Jesse Mogg then almost pulled off a try off a chip kick but the bounce didn’t go his way and knocked on with the line in sight with the Hurricanes defenders bearing down on him.
Soon after, Lealiifano added another penalty goal to reduce the margin to ten points and give themselves a chance.
The next time the Hurricanes were in the Brumbies 22 they went to the rolling maul again but this time the Brumbies maul defence was up to the job with Ita Vaea earning a scrum.
The Hurricanes added another penalty to make the lead 13 points going into the last 15 minutes where they have been the best team this season in the final 20 minutes and they showed why with Proctor scoring following a scything run from Ma’a Nonu into the Brumbies 22.
Marshall added the extras to make the final score 29-9 although the Brumbies did launch one long range last gasp effort that came to nothing despite a good run from Joe Tomane.
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The Game Changer
After the opening 10 minutes, the Hurricanes took control of the game and the Brumbies could not recover although they did get within ten points at one stage.
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The G&GR MOTM
Ardie Savea – Tough choice between a few of the Hurricanes players but his presence at the ruck up against Pocock and scoring a try himself was important in the win despite coming off injured after 50 minutes. Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith were also leading from the front.
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Wallaby Watch
A few concerns for Michael Cheika with a lot of missed tackles from the Wallabies contingent that was hopefully only a case of fatigue trying to contain the Hurricanes ball runners and not a sign of things to come.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]HURRICANES 29
Tries: J Savea, Perenara, A Savea, Proctor
Conversions: Barrett, Marshall 2
Penalties: Marshall
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[one_half last=”yes”]BRUMBIES 9
Penalties: Mogg, Lealiifano 2
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Cards
Nil
Crowd: 34,500
