VIDEO: Canes end Chiefs' campaign
SUPER RUGBY MATCH REPORT: Hurricanes advance to the semi-finals with a hard-fought 32-31 win over the Chiefs on Friday.
As expected the teams delivered an entertaining quarterfinal clash, producing an eight-try thriller yet again – four belonged to the Hurricanes and four to the Chiefs.
There were little separating the sides, however, the difference eventually boiled down to an early successful penalty kick by Hurricanes’ flyhalf Beauden Barrett.
After limping into the competition’s knockout phase with four losses from five matches, the Hurricanes led from the outset against the Chiefs.
Julian Savea set up the victory with a try in the first minute and while the Chiefs drew level three times they could never overtake their New Zealand rivals.
TJ Perenara scored tries either side of half-time before Ben Lam sealed the win to set up a semi-final next week with the winner of Saturday’s clash between defending champions Crusaders and South Africa’s Sharks.
Both sides posted four tries apiece but the scoreline flattered the Chiefs, with the match effectively over by the time Damian McKenzie and Lachlan Boshier registered two late tries.
“A win’s a win and we’ll take that in the playoffs because one point is enough for us and we’re ecstatic about that,” Hurricanes captain Brad Shields said.
The Chiefs beat the Hurricanes 28-24 last week but Waikato skipper Sam Cane said the 2016 champions were far more committed, particularly at the breakdown and on defence.
“They were a different beast to what we saw last week, they played really well tonight and I wish them all the best for the next few weeks,” he said.
Savea intercepted McKenzie’s looping pass to dot down after 48 seconds, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
He almost had another two minutes later when he swooped on a stray Brad Weber pass but was run down by Anton Lienert-Brown.
Weber atoned for his error to hit back with a try for the Chiefs, leaving the Hurricanes defence flat-footed as he combined with Shaun Stevenson on the left wing.
A Beauden Barrett penalty gave the Hurricanes an edge as a rash of handling errors in windy conditions saw the Chiefs struggle to build momentum in attack.
They remained patient but could not breach the Hurricanes defence, settling for a McKenzie penalty to lock the scores at 10-10.
The Hurricanes regained the advantage when Perenara squeezed between a crush of Chiefs players for his first try, awarded after a television review overturned the referee’s initial ruling that the halfback knocked-on.
Lienert-Brown levelled for the Chiefs in the 52nd minute when a fortunate bounce from a Charlie Ngatai kick allowed Lachlan Boshier to put his team on the attack.
But Perenara had the answer, darting over from the base of the scrum for his second after a strong run from Jordie Barrett in the build up.
Ben Lam then gave the Hurricanes a significant buffer for the first time, scoring in the corner with 11 minutes remaining to make it 32-17 after Jordie Barrett’s sideline conversion.
It meant McKenzie and Boshier’s late efforts were not enough to save the Chiefs’ season.
Man of the Match: You can always count on Chiefs’ flyhalf McKenzie to put in a great performance, while Brad Weber along with Liam Messam and Anton Lienert-Brown also proved to be influential. Hurricanes Julian Savea was tremendous on attack, while Ngani Laumape was solid in defence. However, our nod goes to Hurricanes Ricky Riccitelli, who produced an amazing overall performance. The hooker put in 13 tackles and boast with eight carries.
The scorers:
For Hurricanes:
Tries: Savea, Perenara 2, Lam
Cons: B. Barrett 2, J Barett
Pens: B Barrett 2
For Chiefs:
Tries: Weber, Lienert-Brown, McKenzie, Boshier
Cons: McKenzie 3, Ngatai
Pen: McKenzie
Yellow card: Vaea Fifita (Hurricanes, 79 – cynical foul)
Hurricanes: 15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Jordie Barrett, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Thomas Perenara, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Gareth Evans, 6 Brad Shields (captain), 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Michael Fatialofa, 3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Toby Smith.
Replacements: 16 James O’Reilly, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Ben May, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Reed Prinsep, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Ihaia West, 23 Wes Goosen.
Chiefs: 15 Solomon Alaimalo, 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Shaun Stevenson, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Michael Allardice, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe.
Replacement: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Jesse Parete, 20 Mitch Karpik, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Alex Nankivell.
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nick Briant (New Zealand), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
A great PODCAST to listen to
