Canes' crosskick a lethal weapon

The defending champions outscored the Stormers by sevens tries to one to record their eight Super Rugby victory of the season.

Four of their seven tries came courtesy of flyhalf Beauden Barrett's cross-field kick.

While the Stormers' try came via a line-out drive, which hooker Ramone Samuels scored.  

"I think we scored five from our seven tries from cross-field kicks, and that was not the plan, but the way [Strormers] were defending that was the space they were leaving us and we were very happy to take it.

"Their wings were very high up and there was that space behind them. They were narrow and space was wider –  we were very confident to take it," Boyd explained.

"Stormers changed their game, they went back to a more African style of play where they tried to bully us upfront, played for territory and wanted to get into the corner and drive," Boyd added.

Hurricanes captain Thomas 'TJ' Perenara praised his teammates' skills and admitted that sometimes it could be reckless.

"I am a big believer in play what you see, we got some boys who are skilful enough to do that sort of stuff.

"I know the way we play can put us in bad situations but a lot of time it puts us in good situations,” Perenara said.

"Like the the way [the Stormers] were defending they shut down us running short and we had no choice but to crosskick instead of giving them the line-out to maul all day," he added.

In terms of injuries flank, Callum Gibbins went into the encounter with a minor shoulder injury.

"Gibbins got a bit of a sore shoulder but he went into the game with shoulder, but I think he will be fine other than that nothing really,"  Boyd said.

Hurricanes' next fixture is against the unbeaten Crusaders on May 13 in Christchurch.   

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