1
Champions Hurricanes break new ground against sorry Sunwolves, Crusaders up and running
By Peter Hanson
Hurricanes broke new ground as they began the start of their Super Rugby defence with a devastating 83-17 mauling of Sunwolves.
The Wellington side, who defeated Lions in last season's final, were a class above the sorry Sunwolves and scored a club-record 13 tries in a single match in
Ardie Savea, Vince Aso and Michael Fatialofa all touched down twice for Chris Boyd's men, while Ricky Riccitelli, TJ Perenara, Julian Savea, Ngani Laumape, Blade Thomson, Brad Shields and Wes Goosen also opened their accounts for the season in the rout, which represented their highest points total in a game.
Hurricanes, who were 45-5 to the good by half-time, were battered 52-10 by Brumbies in their 2016 season-opener but laid down a much bigger marker this time around, albeit far tougher tests lie in wait.
Great start to the season in Tokyo with 13 triespic.twitter.com/N9xEGLqCPL
— Hurricanes Rugby (@Hurricanesrugby) February 25, 2017
It was a far more even affair in Christchurch as seven-time champions Crusaders held firm to defeat Brumbies 17-13 at AMI Stadium.
Seta Tamanivalu touched down in just the fourth minute after fine work by Israel Dagg and the latter was influential in sending Whetu Douglas over before half-time.
Brumbies defended stoutly in the opening 40 and Rory Arnold's try brought them back into the game, only for Peter Samu to stretch Crusaders' lead again.
The Australian team attacked well in the closing stages, but Crusaders held out for a round-one win.
Waratahs are also up-and-running for the season after edging a tight affair with Force 19-13 in at Allianz Stadium.
Rain earlier in the day in Sydney meant conditions were not always easy and visitors Force led 13-9 at the break with Jono Lance contributing all their points with a try and eight points off the tee.
But Waratahs hit back early in the second half with Will Skelton touching down, and Reece Robinson - assuming kicking duties in the absence of the injured Bernard Foley - kicked five more points to seal the win.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
Go to comments