by Rajitha Ratwatte

Hurricanes at home to the Queensland Reds at Sky Stadium in Wellington. Basically, a dead rubber with the finals now definitely between two of the Kiwi teams and the Hurricanes all but ruled out. The tournament also taking on an air of “much of a sameness” and only the Australian teams showing improvement, probably due to playing better opposition. The Kiwi teams getting sloppier and losing their discipline and professionalism as the tournament progressed. A notable feature was that this was going to be the last game in New Zealand for Ngani Laumape a great servant of Wellington rugby and the current incumbent of the no12 jersey and sometimes All Black winger. A lucrative contract from a French club and not enough certainty from the All-Blacks selectors, who seem to have their eyes focused elsewhere, being among the reasons for the loss of this great player to NZ rugby.

The Reds started off with a basic error by not kicking the required 10 meters and the centerfield scrum that resulted gave Laumape his chance to show just how good he is by scoring under the posts in the third minute. 7–0 to the hosts. A few minutes later Laumape went over again but the TV replay showed him to have dropped the ball over the line due to a great tackle by Dangunu on the Reds’ wing. The Reds had developed a nice tactic with big forwards gaining momentum from long runs in and getting the ball of their nippy halfback McDermott in the second or third phase and breaking through the “Canes defence. Number eight Wilson made a great break this way but lost the ball inches from the line. Another try was denied to the Hurricanes in the 25th minute when Jordie Barret who had a very physical game, went over the line but the TMO ruled a knock-on. The ball seemed to be greasy and there were plenty of handling errors and loose passes. The Reds’ forwards were dominating the set pieces and Tyrell Lomax the ‘Canes loosehead prop was yellow-carded in the 27th minute and this meant they lost Du’ Plessis Kirifi (temporarily) in the number seven jersey as well because another prop had to come on for the scrums. A minute later McDermott came off the back of an advancing scrum and scored under the posts for the Reds, 7–7. The ‘Canes took a penalty mainly to run the clock down during the Lomax yellow card and took the score to 10–7 at halftime.

Within three minutes of the restart, Dangunu was yellow-carded by Ref James Doleman who was to issue two more yellow cards and award a penalty try before he was done for the day. Rueben Love the 20-year-old Hurricanes fly-half scored his first try in Super rugby in the 45th minute and Jordie Barret managed a difficult conversion taking the score to 17–7. The Reds still playing with one man short scored through their dynamic hooker Amosa in the 48th minute and Bryce Haggerty their number 10 converted taking the score to 17–14. At this stage, the Hurricanes captain and number eight Aardie Savea went off the field injured, and the Reds may have seen an opportunity. It was not to be however as Dan Coles came in off the bench (What an option!) and inside his first three minutes in the game, scored what is now his trademark try off a rolling maul constructed at the end of a line out. Only a five pointer this time and the score 22–14. 62 minutes into the game one of the most experienced commentators in NZ was reduced to the single expletive “blimey” when the referee aided by the TMO awarded a penalty try to the Hurricanes and dished out a yellow card knocking the ball deliberately over the dead ball line (i.e., a professional foul in a scoring situation) in a bizarre interpretation of the rules. 29-14 and Nani Laumape was subbed off the field to loud cheers from appreciative fans. The Hurricanes duly achieved the bonus point in the 70th minute Through Devon Flanders (36–14) and did one better before the full-time whistle when Dan Coles got his second off another rolling maul. The Final score 43–14 a record win for the Hurricanes over the Reds.

The second game on Friday was the ACT Brumbies hosting the Otago Highlanders in conditions very familiar to the Highlanders, extreme cold, in Canberra. Mike Frazer was the referee, and the Brumbies went into an early lead scoring an unconverted try through their winger Len Ikitai. Brumbies skipper and loosehead prop Alalatoa had a “brain freeze” and was caught blatantly offside in the 16th minute. The resultant touch kick and line out saw Ash Dickson the ‘Landers hooker score off a rolling maul and Mitch Hunt their fly-half had no difficulty taking them to seven points over the Brumbies five. Jonah Nareki got into the game in the 26th minute making great territory off an advancing scrum and passing to Aaron Smith who helped himself to a seven pointer 14–5. Lachlan Lonnegan the Brumbies hooker pulled one back for his side scoring on the stroke of halftime taking the score to 14–12 at the break.

The Highlanders sustained an unrelenting attack in Brumbies territory from the start of the second half. First, it was Aaron Smith who scored off an attacking scrum (21–12) and inside the next 10 minutes two more tries, one from Billy Harmon, unconverted (26–12) and another from Tomkinson on the wing (33-12) ensured a win with a bonus point for the Highlanders who have a very good chance of featuring in the final next week.

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