'Canes brush off tryless 'Tahs
The Hurricanes showed good composure to secure a valuable 33-12 bonus-point victory over an underwhelming Waratahs outfit in wet conditions in Sydney on Saturday.
It is the Waratahs' sixth straight defeat and leaves them languishing at the wrong end of the table whilst the five log points will do wonders for the Hurricanes play-off hopes, especially as they still have a bye to come.
The wet weather limited attacking opportunities for both sides in the first half and the Hurricanes managed to take a 13-9 lead into the break thanks to the powerful Julian Savea who scored the only try in the opening 40 minutes.
The big left wing powered his way over in the corner to add to the two penalties that flyhalf Beauden Barrett squeezed over the bar to give the visitors the advantage.
The Waratahs had the upper hand in the tight exchanges but battled to make their dominance in this area count as ball control proved to be especially difficult given the poor conditions.
The scrappy duel continued in the second half, with both goal-kickers slotting penalties after half-time before the Hurricanes underlined how dangerous they can be from broken play when they engineered a try for replacement hooker Motu Matu'u.
The 'Canes were put on the front foot by their skipper Conrad Smith who grubbered ahead and secured the ball in the Waratahs 22 before it was worked out to the right where some good interplay between forwards and backs resulted in the try that put them 21-12 ahead with 15 minutes left.
With momentum clearly in their favour the visitors continued to apply the pressure in Waratahs territory and they were rewarded when Smith was able to stroll over for their third try following some strong work from the forward pack.
With the home side completely out of the contest the only question remaining was whether the Hurricanes could score the all-important fourth try in the final ten minutes and their positive intent was rewarded when replacement scrumhalf Chris Eaton nipped over from a set line-out move in the tramlines.
The scorers:
For the Waratahs:
Pens: Barnes 4
For the Hurricanes:
Tries: Savea, Matu'u, Smith, C Eaton
Cons: Barrett 2
Pens: Barrett 3
Teams:
Waratahs: 15 Bernard Foley, 14 Tom Kingston, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Jono Jenkins, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson (captain).
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Jeremy Tilse, 18 Richard Stanford, 19 Lopeti Timani, 20 Brendan McKibbin, 21 Daniel Halangahu, 22 Tom Carter.
Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Conrad Smith (captain), 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Ben May.
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Reg Goodes, 18 James Broadhurst, 19 Brad Shields, 20 Chris Eaton, 21 Tusi Pisi, 22 Jayden Hayward.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
