Larkham: Canes have got it all
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Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham says that the Hurricanes have got the balance of their overall game spot on this season.
Larkham won two Super Rugby titles as a player, but his team were dumped out in their semifinal in Wellington on Saturday by a Hurricanes side that will now host their first-ever final against the Highlanders.
The former Brumbies playmaker said that the Hurricanes have developed their game by adding some structure to their attacking flair.
"They seem to have got their whole game right this year compared to previous years where they didn't have as much control as they do this year," he told stuff.co.nz.
He added that considering the different weapons at their disposal, they are rightfully favourites to take their first title in front of their home crowd next week."They have some very good structures, they're able to stick to those structures, and they can also open the game with counter attack and turnovers, so I think they have the overall game this year to win it," he said.
Larkham said the Brumbies knew what was coming, but simply could not keep up with the Hurricanes' attacking energy.
"They were happy to run from everywhere. We knew that before we went into the game, we'd spoken about it. Our boys pushed as hard as they could, but there was certainly some fatigue there, when you come up against a team like the Hurricanes who play very laterally and make you work defensively it fatigues you.
"They defended well, maintained their defence through a number of phases and as we've seen all season, they're dangerous when they get that turnover ball and we couldn't contain them," he said.
Despite the fact that his team travelled from Canberra to Cape Town and back down to Wellington Larkham refused to use that as an excuse and explained that the structure of the competition was not the reason they fell short.
"It's tough, but we've done it twice in the last three years and I thought we got our prep right this week. There was a little bit of fatigue coming into this game, but the Hurricanes out played us. I wouldn't read too much into the structure of Super Rugby, everyone knows the competition rules at the start of the year and you play toward that," he said.
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