Glum Weepu shoulders blame
Former Hurricane Piri Weepu has shouldered the blame for the Blues’ defeat to the Wellington side after crucial lapses in defence from the versatile halfback saw his new team lose in heartbreaking fashion at Eden Park.
Weepu was savagely handed off off by Hurricanes right wing Cory Jane on his way to the tryline in the first half, and then late in the game he kicked the ball at the opposition before missing his tackle on opposite number Beauden Barrett who went on to set up the winning try.
The All Black halfback admitted that he did feel responsible for for the loss which leaves his new team scrambling near the bottom of the table following a tough start to the season.
“It’s tough. Personally I felt I’ve let the team down,” he told Fairfax media.
Weepu said that the Blues had been handed a lesson in playing and maintaining focus for a full 80 minutes and was quick to pay tribute to the efforts of his former teammates who nobody gave much of a chance following an exodus of high profile All Blacks from their ranks last year.
“We didn’t play to the final whistle and those guys did and you can’t take anything away from them,” Weepu said. “People had written them off and they may not have showed a lot of promise in pre-seasons, but the competition’s different. I take my hat off to them.”
The last-gasp victory was naother example of the character the unfancied Hurricanes have shown this season, and the fact that they managed to score four tries whilst living off scraps of possession made the away win all the more impressive.
