Hurricanes made to work for victory over Lions
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Hurricanes
The Hurricanes were made to work much harder than expected for their win against a willing Lions team, recording a bonus-point 33-18 victory in Wellington on Saturday.
All Black and Hurricanes prop Neemia Tialata summed it up as follows: “GREAT result but they played awesome and tested us tonight!”
The win ensures the Hurricanes maintain their unbeaten run at the start of the season and will go to the top of the standings – for at least a couple of hours, until the Bulls play later in the day.
You have got to love and admire the Lions. There is a certain naive doggedness that is appealing. Opponents may score more points but they are not beaten as they have victories of their own. And they keep playing constructive rugby.
They flew far and still came out fresh and running to the end, making no excuses and scoring two good tries against a top side like the Hurricanes – strong up front and lethal behind. This time the Lions, one glaring exception apart tackled which left the mighty Hurricanes with just four tries for the bonus point.
Four tries, though, and a second bonus point in successive weeks. It’s no wonder that they are so highly rated. They just have so many pressure points, and the best of them is fullback Cory Jane – such an elusive runner.
The Lions started badly – four penalties and a free kick against them in the first eight minutes. It seemed that they were going to be blown away, and not only by the Hurricanes.
The second penalty was against newcomer George Earle for being offside at a kick and from just inside the Lions’ half Willie Ripia goaled. 3-0 after 3 minutes and then 6-0 after 8 minutes when Franco van der Merwe was offside. Not that the visitors did not have their chances but Earl Rose missed two straightforward kicks, as he also missed straightforward tackles.
Michael Paterson won a Lions throw into the line-out on the Hurricanes left. They went far right and then came far left where the same Paterson picked up a grubby pass, cut inside and scored. 11-0 after 12 minutes.
It seemed that winning was a breeze for the Hurricanes. But the Lions simply did not take it lying down and a good burst by Todd Clever suggested that they might score but Rose passed into touch. Clever burst again but Cobus Grobbelaar knocked on, Then their moment came. They turned a penalty into a five-metre line-out and mauled quickly. The Hurricanes did their best to bring it down but industrious flank Derrick Minnie scored. Rose converted from far out. 11-7.
Rose then had his second miss, this time from in front. Six points missed.
The Lions had a penalty but Carlos Spencer, going for territory, did not find touch. Then the Hurricanes had a penalty and Ripia, going for territory, did not find touch. The just before the break the Hurricanes opted for a scrum close to the Lions line instead of kicking the penalty. It was a good scrum for them and Rodney So’oialo picked up and gave to Piri Weepu who cut inside Spencer to score under the posts. 21-7 at half-time.
The lead-up to the try was dubious – first a dubious penalty against the Lions when they counter-rucked strongly and were penalised for something, then a dubious advance of 10 metres when they seemed to have complied. That was when the Hurricanes chose the five-metre scrum.
Eight minutes into the second half the score was 21-15. The Lions scored a brilliant try. From a line-out they went wide left, then wide right than back wide left where Clever forced his way over in Karl Lowe’s tackle. 21-12 and then Rose kicked a penalty when John Schwalger was offside, the sixth penalty against the Hurricanes in eight minutes.
But the good work was undone by an astonishing try. Andrew Hoer, the stocky hooker, got the ball standing still. standing still he contrived to beat Kevin Buys and then chugged off down the field, beating two more Lions and then sending Rose running away from him with a little dummy. He ran some 30 metres to score, an exhausting experience for the fine hooker. 28-15.
Ma’a Nonu, no stranger to the sin bin, was shown a yellow card for playing the man without the ball. Rose kicked the resultant penalty, 28-18 after 52 minutes, but the Lions did not score again while Nonu was thinking about things on the sideline. In fact the Hurricanes all but scored when Jane had a run and Schwalger was over but held up.
Later David Smith was close but lost the ball in Jacques Coetzee’s tackle.
Then came the bonus-point try. The brilliant Jane counterattacked of a long kick by Coetzee. The Hurricanes went right and then came far left where David Smith had a short, unmarked run to the line. 33-18 with 12 minutes to play.
The Lions kept running and had a chance to score form a five-metre line-out but the maul was brought down.
Man of the Match. The Lions’ outstanding player was energetic centre Doppies la Grange (pronounced Gronshay apparently) but the Hurricanes’ star was brighter – Corey Jane who is so skilled, so elusive and so adventurous.
The scorers:
For the Hurricanes:
Tries: Paterson, Weepu, Hore, Smith
Cons: Ripia 2
Pens: Ripia 3
For the Lions:
Tries: Minnie, Clever
Con: Rose
Pens: Rose 2
Yellow card: Ma’a Nonu (Hurricanes, 54 – repeated infringements, offside)
Teams:
Hurricanes: 15 Cory Jane, 14 Tamati Ellison, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 David Smith, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So’oialo, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Michael Paterson, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore (captain), 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Jacob Ellison, 18 Nick Crosswell, 19 Scott Waldrom, 20 Tyson Keats, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Andre Taylor
Lions: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Deon van Rensburg, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 Wandile Mjekevu, 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 JP Joubert, 8 Todd Clever, 7 Derrick Minnie, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (captain), 5 George Earle, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Charles Emslie, 17 Kevin Buys, 18 Jacques Lombaard, 19 Robert Kruger, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 Walter Venter, 22 Michael Killian.
Referee: Paul Marks (Australia)
Assistant referees: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Matthew Stanish (New Zealand)
TMO: Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
[ Match report from Rugby365.com]
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