Canes go top with strong showing

The Hurricanes raced to the top of the Super Rugby standings with a 42-13 demolition of a hapless Western Force team in Perth on Friday.

Outscoring the home team by five tries to one, the unbeaten Canes collected a full-house five points – to go with the eight they collected on their two-match tour of South Africa – where they beat the Lions and Bulls.

With former Sharks coach John Plumtree now the Hurricanes' forwards coach, the men from Wellington in New Zealand gave notice that they are genuine title contenders.

The Force suffered their biggest ever home loss and have just one win from three games, which came in the season opener against defending champions the Waratahs.

The Force might have opened the scoring through a penalty from the boot of Zack Holmes, but it was evident from the outset that the visitors had their measure and the home team spent almost the entire game under siege.

The Hurricanes were on track from the time Cory Jane was on the end of some slick ball movement to run in the first try in the 12th minute.

They overpowered the Force in most aspects of the game, and added a second try when Mark Abbott seized on some lax defence to lunge over next to the posts in the 26th minute.

The Hurricanes led 15-6 at half-time and the game was over as a contest when Victor Vito drove to the line for their third try in the 61st minute.

They added a fourth when Julian Savea simply ran over Force opponent Luke Morahan as he charged down the side line in the 63rd minute.

They were unlucky not to add two further tries, with Savea twice denied by marginal calls from the referees, but James Marshall added a fifth with the last play of the match.

Hurricanes skipper Dane Coles said it had been a tremendous start for his team, but that they needed to maintain their form.

"It has been pretty good, two wins in Africa and one in Australia on the way home," he said

"We have a lot of belief in our side, we have put ourselves in a good position, but we need to keep our feet on the ground."

Man of the match:  Ben McCalman and Brynard Stander were good for the Force and never gave up. Julian Savea came close with his usual array of monster-truck charges, while James Broadhurst was a workhorse. However, our award goes to the general that directed the Hurricanes dominant show – flyhalf Beauden Barrett, who not only controlled the game, but produced a few great counter-attacks.

The scorers:

For the Western Force:

Try: Scott

Con: Burton

Pens: Holmes, Burton

For the Hurricanes:

Tries: Jane, Abbot, Vito, J Savea, Marshall

Cons: Barrett 2, Marshall 2

Pens: Barrett 3

Teams:

Western Force: 15 Luke Burton, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Solomoni Rasolea, 11 Marcel Brache, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Brynard Stander, 6 Angus Cottrell, 5 Steve Mafi, 4 Sam Wykes (captain), 3 Tetera Faulkner, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Pekahou Cowan.

Replacements: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Rory Walton, 20 Kane Koteka, 21 Ian Prior, 22 Sias Ebersohn, 23 Mitchell Scott.

Hurricanes: 15 James Marshall, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Chris Smiley, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Brad Shields, 6 Ardie Savea, 5 James Broadhurst, 4 Blade Thomson, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Dane Coles (captain), 1 Reggie Goodes.

Replacements: 16 Brayden Mitchell, 17 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 18 Chris Eves, 19 Mark Abbott, 20 Callum Gibbins, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Matt Proctor, 23 Nehe lner-Skudder.

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Graham Cooper (Australia)

TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)