The Sunday Mail
The Hurricanes’ lengthy unbeaten run at home against South African teams in Vodacom Super Rugby looked under threat at half-time.
That was until, they launched an impressive surge in the third quarter to secure a comprehensive 38-22 win over the Cell C Sharks in Wellington yesterday.
At half-time the teams were locked at 17-all and at that point the Hurricanes, who had toured to South Africa and Argentina before this game, were starting to look tired as they made heavy weather of converting their forward dominance into a proper advantage on the scoreboard.
The Hurricanes quickly changed that though after half-time, with Ben Lam running in two tries and Dane Coles, on as a replacement, dotting down off a line-out drive to put the home team out of range by the time the hour mark, and the last quarter, was reached.
The 21 unanswered points in that 20-minute period ensured that the Hurricanes’ winning run at home against South African teams – the Cheetahs were the last team to beat them in New Zealand – was extended to 14.
It also ends the Sharks’ positive start to the season, with a couple of home truths, not the least of those being the importance of having a tough, combative forward pack if you want to be successful, being drummed out to the visitors.
The Hurricanes forward personnel hasn’t changed much, apart from the addition of All Black Coles, since they were outplayed by the Stormers in Cape Town two weeks ago, but in this game they looked a completely different unit as they ruthlessly exposed what many critics were expecting at the start of the season to be the Sharks’ soft underbelly up front.
In mitigation for the Sharks, they were disrupted.
They didn’t start with the two props they had selected for the game, with Thomas du Toit not in the squad at all and Ox Nche on the bench, with the reasons for the late change not being specified.
Then once the game started they lost flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain, who was in for Curwin Bosch after the regular flyhalf flew home because of a family bereavement, and their World Cup winning wing Makazole Mapimpi.
Perhaps the latter disruptions explained the other big Sharks problem on the night, which was the horrendous last line of defence.
As they were the previous week against the Highlanders, the Sharks outside backs were brilliant with ball in hand and when the forwards did win possession the Sharks also showed their creative capabilities.
But while he is an undeniable star of the future and a special force as an attacking player, fullback Aphelele Fassi still needs to learn about some of the other basics of playing his position.
The rest of the Sharks back three also came off second best when it came to the aerial game, with the Hurricanes profiting too easily from their kick passes.
Ngani Laumape scored one try off that avenue of attack in the first half and Ben Lam followed up with another in the second.
Lam scored two tries in the second half, his first being the product of a strong run after Jordie Barrett’s good decision making and pass after fielding a poor clearance plus some woeful initial line defence from the Sharks.
That was the score that broke the half-time deadlock and it was from there that the Hurricanes gathered the momentum that removed the Sharks from the equation as potential winners.
In truth, the Sharks never looked like winners given the way they struggled at forward, with the Hurricanes’ defensive line-out enjoying the sort of success they could only have dreamed about before this and the scrum exerting pressure.
But given the fact the Hurricanes had to travel back from Buenos Aires this week, the Sharks’ ability to make the most of half opportunities did put them well in the game at the halfway mark.
Even in defeat, and even given the sobering lessons that were drummed out, the Sharks still showed plenty of flashes of what new coach Sean Everitt is working towards, not the least the brilliant attack that featured the two props that ultimately led to a try that was disallowed because of a forward pass much earlier in the movement.
Shortly after that the Sharks scored off an intercept try inspired by skipper Lukhanyo Am and although they had been under pressure for most of the early part of the game, and had conceded way too many penalties – five by the 18th minute – it looked for a while like luck might be with them.
But the Hurricanes quickly reasserted themselves through their scrumming dominance, with a strong scrum and resultant penalty advantage creating the momentum that led to Wes Goosen scoring their first try out on the right.
By then Chamberlain had gone off and back-up scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba had come onto the field out of position. . — SuperSport
This was an example of why the six/two split between forwards and backs always carries an element of risk.
However, Nohamba, although skinned on the outside by Laumape when the big All Black found himself in space on the way to his team’s second try, showed his brilliance on attack with the break that led ultimately to Tyler Paul’s try.
Apart from replacing Chamberlain on the field, Nohamba also had to take over the place-kicking duties, which he did with mixed results.
Still, he showed enough as an allround player to suggest the Sharks won’t suffer if he becomes their regular starter in his preferred position of scrum-half.
The game was effectively over by the last quarter but the Sharks forwards did appear to have more grunt when Le Roux Roets came on later in the piece and perhaps, given how lightweight the starting pack was made to look on the night, he should come into consideration for a starting place next week. — SuperSport
