Hurricanes beat Highlanders 17-11 in Super Rugby Aotearoa
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Wellington-based Hurricanes maintained their rally after a slow start to the season, beating the Highlanders 17-11 Sunday in Super Rugby Aotearoa.
Both teams came into the match with 2-1 records. But the Dunedin-based Highlanders haven’t won since they upset the Hamilton-based Chiefs in the opening round while Hurricanes beat the Chiefs last weekend and now have back-to-back wins.
They move into third place in the five-team tournament behind the unbeaten Crusaders and the Auckland-based Blues who lost their unbeaten record to the Crusaders on Saturday.
The Hurricanes led 12-0 after a strong first half which set up their win. Though they had 70 percent of possession in the second spell, they were outscored 8-5 by the Highlanders.
“Our boys stepped up in the first half to keep a Highlanders team with that much firepower limited to few opportunities,” Hurricanes captain T.J. Perenara said. “That went a big way to us winning the game.”
The match featured an outstanding contest between the All Blacks scrumhalves, Aaron Smith for the Highlanders and Perenara for the Hurricanes who both scored tries. Smith had the early upper-hand, harrassing Perenara around the fringes of rucks and mauls and making several threatening breaks.
But Perenara struck a major blow when he sold Smith a dummy in the 28th minute, sent him wide then cut through the resulting inside gap to score the Hurricanes’ first try.
Smith had his revenge in the 58th minute when, with the Highlanders trailing 17-3, he broke around the unguarded short side of an attacking maul to score and keep his team in the match.
The first half featured a myriad of line breaks or half breaks by both teams which kept defenses on alert. But an inability to link and to finish kept the score down, also due to some strong scrambling defense from both teams.
Both teams had a try disallowed for obstruction within the first six minutes. Smith should have scored after four minutes when he finished a long-range break by flyhalf Mitch Hunt. But the referee rubbed out the try for a marginal obstruction by Highlanders captain Ash Dixon.
Two minutes later Ngani Laumape scored for the Hurricanes but the try again was erased for an obstruction of the Highlanders’ defense.
Perenara and Smith’s tries came from rare defensive lapses. The Hurricanes also managed a try to flanker Devan Flanders, one of their best ball-carriers, but had to control the ball through more than 15 phases to break down the Highlanders’ defense.
Hunt kicked a penalty just before the final siren to cut the lead to six points and give the Highlanders a faint chance of a come-from-behind win. But the Hurricanes snatched a Highlanders’ lineout in stoppage time to end the game.
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