Hat-trick hero: Julian Savea
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The Hurricanes cruised to a 66-24 Super Rugby win over the Melbourne Rebels at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday.
Winger Julian Savea bagged a hat-trick as the hosts ran nine tries past their weak trans-Tasman opposition, with fly-half Beauden Barrett converting all of them as well as a penalty for a personal haul of 21 points.
Andre Taylor and Alapati Leiua posted doubles for the rampant hosts, while Cooper Vuna scored a brace himself for the Rebels who added a five-pointer after the full-time siren via veteran hooker Adam Freier.
The bonus-point victory kept alive the Hurricanes slim hopes of making the play-offs as they moved to 40 points and into seventh place on the overall standings.
For the visiting Rebels, their hopes of achieving three consecutive victories for the first time in their history were dashed by a poor defensive effort and their chances of qualifying look even more remote.
With livewire scrum-half TJ Perenara influential, the Hurricanes allowed the Rebels little time to attack.
When they did, the men from Melbourne made the most of them with Vuna scoring twice in the opening forty minutes - the first after carving through the Hurricanes line and the second from an intercept.
But it was never going to be enough against a fired-up Hurricanes outfit whose powerful tackling gave them ample turnover ball to set up their try-scoring blitz that paved the way for the side's highest Super Rugby tally.
The Rebels won last year's clash in Melbourne 42-25 and another high-scoring match looked on the cards after Vuna sliced through some weak Hurricanes defence for the game's first try after barely seven minutes.
After exchanging penalties the Hurricanes levelled at 10-10 with a try in the 20th minute that's sure to make the highlights reel.
Perenara flicked a backhand pass to centre Tim Bateman, who as he was being tackled over the sideline got a ball away to full-back Taylor who dived across the line.
From that point it was all downhill for the Rebels.
Leiua crossed for the Hurricanes second touchdown after showing great handling skills to haul in Bateman's kick behind the flat Rebels defence, before Savea crossed twice in a matter of minutes for the bonus point.
Vuna then bagged his brace after the restart, but Jack Lam scored from turnover ball to restore the Hurricanes' margin as the hosts went into the half-time sheds 38-17 ahead.
The Hurricanes scored almost immediately after the resumption with Leiua's second try coming after Victor Vito had set the Rebels back with a 40-metre run.
Savea benefited from a long Perenara pass for his third try before Taylor, the competition's leading try-scorer, crossed for his second to give him 10 for the season.
A try to replacement scrum-half Chris Eaton had the Hurricanes up 66-17 before Freier picked up a consolation third try for the Rebels on full-time.
The scorers:
For Hurricanes:
Tries: Taylor 2, Leiua 2, Savea 3, Lam, C Eaton
Cons: Barrett 9
Pen: Barrett.
For Rebels:
Tries: Vuna 2, Freier
Cons: Beale, Kingi
Pen: Beale
Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Conrad Smith (c), 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Ben May.
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu'u, 17 Reg Goodes, 18 James Broadhurst, 19 Brad Shields, 20 Chris Eaton, 21 Tusi Pisi, 22 Jayden Hayward.
Rebels: 15 Julian Huxley, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Lachlan Mitchell, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve (c), 7 Tim Davidson, 6 Luke Jones, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Cadeyrn Neville, 3 Jono Owen, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Nic Henderson.
Replacements: 16 Adam Freier, 17 Rodney Blake, 18 Al Campbell, 19 Tom Chamberlain, 20 Richard Kingi, 21 James Hilgendorf, 22 Stirling Mortlock.
Referee: Jonathon White (New Zealand)
Comments
kiwilad says...
Jonesy2, your arguement does not stack up when there are more rugby adult male players in Aus than NZ
Posted 05:08 30th May 2012
APV1 says...
@ melkdave - you've hit on exactly why I love the Aviva Premiership table just before the first match of the season is played - Bath are always in 1st place!
I think this also shows how much the Rebels miss Cipriani. He would have been their defensive talisman - much like QC is for the Reds and Wallabies. But they pushed him out in favour of KB, at the behest of Deans. Now with KB injured (get well soon - an awesome #15!), they'll miss Cips even more!
Posted 13:11 28th May 2012
uglea says...
Cooee Trader2
Good to see people recognising how bad things are in the Australian conference. I remember a few seasons ago when the South Africans had their troubles and my '10 years of Super Rugby' dvd has the crusaders finishing on the bottom of the ladder.
Let the swings and roundabouts happen. Good to see some jest and as a mate told me: the older you get, the better you were
Posted 05:32 28th May 2012
melkdave says...
I dont know why the aussie fans keep on about the Rebels beating the Crusaders so much..Even poor teams are going to win the odd unexpected match ,just as in football Manchester Utd lose games against much weaker / poorer teams now and again.That doesnt make Man U a poor team or their opponents world beaters.The overall table tells its own story accept at the start of the season i dont think ,an Australiain team has been higher than 5th .Under the old format thats not even qualifying for the playoffs .The stone cold truth is the Australiain conferance has 2 weak teams who constantly finish in the bottom 3 and and 2 average teams , then one which plays brilliantly that season .Under the new format the fact is the good team and average teams pick up easy points ,and while that can be levaled at the SA conferance aswell its not as pronounced as there are alot less 5 pointers
Posted 13:36 27th May 2012
Trader2 says...
Trinats WTF are you talking about, I mentioned the abbreation of a couple of weeks ago and they are not my Crusaders, the more games they lose the better for the Highlanders at this stage. And the rest of the blog is pretty nonsensical but on par for you I guess.
By the way good gritty win for the Red's last night, the rugby was crap but the close scores kept it interesting. QC could be in luck with Beales injury he may get a run on for the Wannabies against Wales now. Actually I just looked at the draw and the Red's have got an easy run to the end (apart from Highlanders) the bye and another two easy Oz Conference sides. Mind you not as easy as the Brumbies three Oz conference sides and the Blues so despite last night still the Brumbies for mine.
Posted 01:26 27th May 2012
Melkiwi says...
Considering the rugby is a sport struggling to for numbers in Australia, that's why you have so many kiwis playing there, they do very well and year after year they punch above their weight. It may not be as strong as the other two conferences but let's remember the reds are current super rugby champs and Oz have won 3 championships just like sa.
Posted 00:22 27th May 2012
Trinats2 says...
Wow, what happen here ? The same Rebels who beat the Crusaders, surely not.
Someone forgot to tell the Rebels it wasn't tag, and needed to tackle players. Shocking defensive effort, I'm sure they will be hitting the tackle bags this week as they play the Brumbies now (who beat the Canes last week)
Talk of a betting syndicate being involved in this one !
Trader2:
The third placed Rebels beat your second placed Crusaders !!!. you really are a retard, (or cut back on the grog) the top NZ teams and SA teams still have to play each other, Blues and Lions hold up the bottom of the ladder.
Posted 23:24 26th May 2012
trelawney says...
There is one thing that will stay in my mind for a long time is the actions of the 'Canes no 16. 1) for putting the rebels injured player into the recovery position, after being knocked out by himself. 2) then the no 16 running across to where the injured player was being attented to by the medics and giving him a reassuring touch.
If that is NOT sportsmanship then god help us all.
Posted 23:13 26th May 2012
carpelone says...
Kurtley Beale on PR Team of the Week 10.
Posted 20:59 26th May 2012
jonesy2 says...
the aussie conference is apparently weak. yet australia are the second best rugby nation over south africa by a long long long way. imagine if AFL hadnt been invented and imagine if every kid in sydney, brisbane and gold coast didnt play league. rest of the world better hope AFL takes over in west sydney. the only thing i learnt from this game is that savea will be wearing number 11 for the allblacks in the coming weeks and that perenara and taylor's absences from the AB squad are a f*********************************ing joke.
Posted 16:22 26th May 2012
melkdave says...
WOW saw this game and how poor where the REBELS,as a contest it was over after 25 mins.Their defence was just dredfull as the Hurricanes seemed to run in tries at will.On that performance the Rebels arnt even a top championship side in the UK let alone S15.Nothing super about that performance at all,a weak team in a weak conferance
Posted 15:43 26th May 2012
hayj05 says...
Perenara & Taylor deserve starting spots in the AB's on current form.
Posted 13:50 26th May 2012
startledwombat says...
Time and again I've seen the Australian newspapers doing stories about the next big thing or how such-and-such a (Australian) team are world-beaters. Unfortunately the players read this stuff and believe their own publicity. In the worst cases, such as Cooper, they regurgitate it.
Also the last three games have caused the opposition coaches to devote a fair bit of attention to the Rebels' new defensive patterns and structures. Looks like Hammett's homework paid off handsomely.
Posted 11:10 26th May 2012
kahui says...
Nice prediction Trinats
Posted 10:35 26th May 2012
new_j4a says...
So what do we learn? That the Oz conference is weak is hardly news, but I guess that it may be news at least to some in Australia that it is so weak that the middle of the pack Kiwi team can walk in tries at will every 8+ minutes. Is Cooper moonlighting as the Rebel's defensive coach?
Posted 09:14 26th May 2012
Trader2 says...
To all those who got carried away by the abbreation a couple of weeks ago (TomInHongkong springs to mind) this game was an example of how poor the Oz conference really is. The third place Oz team (Rebels) have 29 points, the Tahs could go third on 32 points if they win this weekend. The third place NZ team have 40 points, could go to 44 ig Highlanders win and the thirs SA team have 41 could go to 46 if Sharks win later - those stats by them selves tell a story. Also two teams this season have had 60 points put on them and what conference are they from? My old chestnut about depth in the Australian game was never clearer in tonights game when as replacements on come Adam Frier, Rodzilla and Sterlo. The Rebels were shocking it looked like they had a whole backline of QC's playing, the turnstiles were spinning so fast.
Posted 09:01 26th May 2012