VIDEO: Hurricanes hold out hard-charging Rebels
SUPER RUGBY REPORT: The Hurricanes were forced to hang on in desperate fashion against the Rebels, but kept their campaign on track.
The hosts raced into a 26-0 lead in Wellington on Saturday, but the Rebels came charging back to make the final score 29-19 to the Hurricanes in a classic game of two halves.
The static Rebels defence was leaking tries like a rusty sieve in the opening 20 minutes, with Beauden Barrett the director of a beautiful orchestra – creating a couple of tries and scoring one himself.
The Rebels held on for the rest of the half, but still trailed 0-26 at the break.
In the second half the visitors finally found their mojo and the Hurricanes appeared to go into cruise mode.
As a result lock Matt Philip finally got the Rebels on the board after 50-odd minutes, following a series of raids on the Hurricanes line and a warning to the hosts for repeated infringements.
Then Billy Meakes made some serious inroads into the Hurricanes defence and was rewarded with a try for his good work.
Reece Hodge then went over in the corner off the back of another powerful scrum, as the Rebels closed the gap to within a converted try.
However, with just on five minutes remaining Jordie Barrett kicked a long-range penalty to give the home team some breathing space.
Quade Cooper then missed a shot from bang in front and as they say: The fat lady started warming up her vocal chords.
“It was a classic game of two halves,” said Hurricanes captain Beauden Barrett.
“I’d hate to see the territory stats in that second half, but you have to give credit to the Rebels who came out firing in the second half and we can learn a lot from how we finished.”
In the clash between the second best New Zealand side and the leading Australian franchise, the ‘Canes outscored the Rebels four tries to three.
The Hurricanes have now won eight of 11 matches while the Rebels were reduced to five out of 10.
The blistering start by the Hurricanes saw them use their international firepower to put two converted tries on the board inside the opening eight minutes.
They feasted off a woeful defensive effort from the Rebels who missed 24 tackles in the first 40 minutes.
The Rebels could claim an advantage in the forwards and with their celebrated halves pairing of Will Genia and Quade Cooper unable to launch any threatening moves out wide, they played to their pack in the second half and it produced results.
At the start of the game, the Hurricanes ran straight and the gaps opened up, although not for the first try by Ngani Laumape who steam-rolled his way through three defenders.
Beauden Barrett scored the second try from a standard double-around move and right wing Wes Goosen’s try came from fullback Jordie Barrett coming into the backline to create an overlap.
There was a touch of creativity with the fourth try when hooker Asafo Aumua sent Will Genia flying as he galloped towards the line before sending a lob pass for Vaea Fifita to score near the posts.
When the Rebels switched tactics at the start of the second half, keeping the game around their forward power, they were eventually rewarded when lock Matt Phillip charged over.
Billy Meakes added the second before try before the powerful Rebels pack won turnover ball from a ‘Canes defensive scrum and the ball went wide for Reece Hodge to score.
But when Jordie Barrett kicked his penalty it was too late for the Rebels to complete their comeback.
Man of the match: The Rebels’ scrum was their most potent weapon, while their maul also functioned reasonably well. Billy Meakes finally added some spark to the Rebels backline when he came on as a second half replacement. Vaea Fifita had a few decent runs, Ardie Savea was all over the place – making the highest number of tackles in the game and even winning some turnovers. However, the game was won and lost in the opening quarter and the orchestrator of that was Hurricanes flyhalf Beauden Barrett – who showed just how dangerous he can be when not properly marked.
The scorers:
For the Hurricanes:
Tries: Laumape, B Barrett, Goosen, Fifita
Cons: B Barrett 3
Pen: J Barrett
For the Rebels:
Tries: Philip, Meakes, Hodge
Cons: Cooper 2
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Teams:
Hurricanes: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Chase Tiatia, 10 Beauden Barrett (captain), 9 Richard Judd, 8 Reed Prinsep, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 4 James Blackwell, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Fraser Armstrong.
Replacements: 16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Toby Smith, 18 Chris Eves, 19 Kane Le’aupepe, 20 Liam Mitchell, 21 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 22 Finlay Christie, 23 James Marshall.
Melbourne Rebels: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty (captain), 14 Jack Maddocks, 13 Tom English, 12 Reece Hodge, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 Rob Leota, 6 Angus Cottrell, 5 Matt Philip, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Jermaine Ainsley, 2 Anaru Rangi, 1 Tetera Faulkner.
Replacements: 16 Hugh Roach, 17 Matt Gibbon, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Ross Haylett-Petty, 20 Pone Fa’amausili, 21 Michael Ruru, 22 Billy Meakes, 23 Campbell Magnay.
Referee: Nicholas Berry (Australia)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
TMO: Aaron Paterson (New Zealand)
