Hurricanes make it two from two
by Dan Retief | 20 February 2010 (10:35)
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| Maa Nonu © Gallo Images |
The Hurricanes made it two from two as they whipped the Force 47-22 in their Super 14 rugby match played at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday.
Blow-by-blow scoring
The Canes, up against a Force side decimated by injuries, hit the front in the 14th minute and in spite of their usual moments of seeming carelessness never looked in any danger of being beaten as they scored seven tries to three.
With pace to burn and a now formidable set of forwards Andrew Hore’s men showed that they may well be the team to ensure a New Zealand presence at the business end of the tournament.
Tamati Ellison proved to be the key play-maker as he set up the opening two tries for Corey Jane and David Smith with perfectly-weighted grubbers and capped a strong performance by breaking Dane Haylett-Petty’s tackle and making the scoring pass for Smith’s second try.
A competent display by referee Vinny Munro kept the game fluid and showed that new law interpretations contain much for the attacking side while much more thought needs to go into defence.
The Force, in spite of the lopsided scoreline, nevertheless managed to score three tries and might have run the Kiwis closer but for David Smith pulling off an incredible smother tackler to prevent Matt Hodgson from scoring in the 30th minute and James O’Connor missing a penalty shortly before the break.
That meant the Hurricanes reached the turnover 18-8 to the good and when Michael Paterson scored their third try after a long sequence of touch passes just a minute into the second half you could hear Wellington’s Fat Lady warming her vocal chords in the tunnel!
Significantly the Hurricanes’s torrent of scoring started soon after O’Connor was roughed up as he was making a clearance kick. The talented Force youngster, who often came up to take the ball as first receiver, tarried over clearing the ball and even though his kick flew over the heads of the leaping James Broadhust and Scott Waldrom the pair of forwards made sure they made heavy and high contact as they came down.
It was the kind of challenge that might have attracted stronger censure (it probably won’t even be re-visited by a citing) and O’Connor was hardly back on his feet or Jane scored the first try and minutes later Smith got his first to set the Canes on their way.
Scorers:
Hurricanes - Tries: Cory Jane, David Smith (2), Michael Paterson, Ma`a Nonu, Tyson Keats.. Conversions: Willie Ripia, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden.. Penalties: Ripia (2).
Western Force - Try: Josh Tatupu, Dane Haylett-Petty, Chris O`Young. Conversions: James o`Connor (2). Penalty: O`Connor.
Read more on the Super 14 page.
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