Following the Hurricanes’ 35-17 victory over the Chiefs in Super Rugby Pacific, here are our five takeaways.
Top Line
A hard-fought, gruelling encounter in the capital as the Hurricanes continued their bid to stay in the play-off race, while the Chiefs will now put the top spot on the line when they face the Crusaders next weekend.
The Chiefs raced into a strong lead at the break courtesy of a Daniel Rona brace, with the centre punishing some bang-average defence for his first score before picking off a loose pass by Billy Proctor to grab his second.
Josh Jacomb converted both tries and a penalty to offset Ruben Love’s hat-trick of goal kicks to give the Chiefs a 9-17 at the break, but the hosts mounted their comeback early in the second half.
Bailyn Sullivan scored the first of his four tries just five minutes after emerging from the sheds as he finished off the score he kickstarted with a thundering carry before he latched onto a superb floated pass to free him up out wide. He grabbed his brace by running a sharp line off Cam Roigard before Love’s accurate crosskick completed the hat-trick.
The replacement winger, who had come on in the opening 10 minutes after Kini Naholo’s injury, was not done yet as he won the race to the ball following a deft kick from Riley Higgins to score his fourth try.
Hurricanes’ fighting spirit
It’s been a rather testing second season in charge for Clark Laidlaw after leading the club to a third-place finish on the overall table in his first season in charge.
The Hurricanes headed into this clash having won just four of their opening 10 matches, and so often this season have been undone by soft periods in the game, and the opposition have taken advantage.
It looked like more of the same today as Rona punished their errors in the first half, but luckily for the hosts, the Chiefs’ lead was not enough to see off a completely contrasting Hurricanes’ second-half performance.
Not only did the Corey Jane-coached defence keep the Chiefs at bay, but the ‘Canes attack fired on all cylinders, particularly when Love returned to the first-five role. He and Higgins weaved their magic and put the likes of Proctor and Harkin in great positions with Roigard providing slick service too.
It saw Laidlaw’s men score 26 unanswered points in a performance that will give their confidence a real shot in the arm particularly after they ended their Canberra drought defeating the Brumbies last weekend.
Costly yellow card
Discipline cost the Chiefs today as Clayton McMillan’s charges found themselves on the wrong side of Nic Berry’s whistle, particularly in the second half.
While it wasn’t an outrageous penalty count – Hurricanes 5-8 Chiefs – the manner in which they conceded those penalties and where they conceded them really hurt them. Additionally, Shaun Stevenson’s yellow card was rubbed salt in the Chiefs’ wounds as the Hurricanes took the lead for the first time in the final 40, and when Sullivan crossed for his hat-trick, the visitors had a mountain to climb against a fired-up home side.
Ultimately, it was just too much of a task for the visitors.
All Blacks: Wallace Sititi opens up on ‘heartbreaking’ injury and ‘relief’ of recent comeback
Ardie Savea labelled ‘the best player in the world’ as All Blacks legend issues Scott Robertson plea
Scott Robertson’s back-row dilemma
The All Blacks boss is quite simply spoilt for choice with his loose forward stocks bursting at the seams.
Ardie Savea is quite clearly the first name that will appear when Scott Robertson selects his loose trio but the other two positions are very much up for grabs, particularly with Savea able to slip in at number eight or the side of the scrum.
Today, several contenders put their hand up for consideration, with Peter Lakai putting in another all-action performance that included some expert breakdown work paired with resolute defence and brilliant ball carrying.
Du’Plessis Kirifi shone once again, continuing what has been a theme all season, while Braydon Iose impressed on the blindside yet again.
On the other side of the pitch, Samipeni Finau was sharp and aggressive again, while Luke Jacobson produced another sterling performance. The Chiefs skipper is the most popular or flashy of choices for All Blacks fans, but he is effective in what he does, and he does it rather well.
Then there is the case of Wallace Sititi, who made just his second appearance of the Super Rugby Pacific season, but boy, it didn’t look like it. Last year’s World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year was simply superb again. An unreal talent.
With Dalton Papali’i putting in a strong shift this weekend too and the Crusaders loose forwards also putting their hands up this season, one has to wonder if Robertson will be tempted to alter the set-up of his bench this season.
The Springboks have often deployed two loose forwards in their 6-2 and 7-1 bench splits, and with the quality at his disposal, Robertson could do well with a similar make-up. While it is now up in the air whether the French will send a full hog squad or not, they will have a big heavy pack regardless and will almost certainly deploy at least a 6-2 split, and the All Blacks boss has the talents to combat it if he wants to follow suit.
Sititi was superb last year in filling Ethan Blackadder’s void, and while both could make up the back-row with Savea, Robertson could get great purchase with the pair sharing minutes not only against the French but the Springboks too.
Super Sullivan
The sight of Naholo leaving the pitch so early in the match would have concerned Hurricanes fans, considering just how outrageously brilliant he was against the Brumbies last week.
However, Sullivan enjoyed a fantastic outing off the bench, scoring four tries in a performance where everything just went his way.
Sure, some of his tries were as easy as it gets in Super Rugby as he had little to do but jog over the line, but he put himself in those positions.
He also made great contributions in the build-up to a handful of his tries and was understandably smitten after the match. Laidlaw will certainly be happy with the 26-year-old’s performance, as it did not look good for Naholo, whose season could well be over.
Finally, a word for Love, who was sublime in the second half and masterminded the Chiefs’ demise with brilliant tactical decisions and some excellent kicking out of hand. The one-cap All Black looks determined to earn a recall, and while there were some errors in his game, there was no lack of effort, pairing that with sensational.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/hurricanes-v-chiefs-five-takeaways-as-all-blacks-rookie-masterminds-league-leaders-demise-and-scott-robertsons-healthy-dilemma
