Hurricanes dominate to reach 5-0 but perfect start not ‘everything’
With a perfect 5-0 record, the table-topping Hurricanes are the form side in Super Rugby Pacific but playmaker Jordie Barrett stressed that it’s not “everything” at this stage of the season.
The Hurricanes are the only undefeated side left after five rounds but the men from New Zealand’s capital aren’t getting ahead of themselves after going on a similar run last season.
With former coach Jason Holland at the helm, the Canes started the 2023 campaign with six wins from as many starts before losing to teams including the Drua, Chiefs, Blues and Crusaders.
They ended up finishing just outside the top four which saw the Canes travel across the Tasman for a quarter-final blockbuster against the Brumbies, which they lost 37-33 in Canberra.
While the Hurricanes were visibly thrilled and proud of their efforts after beating the Melbourne Rebels 54-28 on Friday, there’s still a long way to go in their quest for championship glory.
“It’s a great start but it’s not everything. We had a great start last year,” Jordie Barrett said on Sky Sport’s broadcast.
“For us, it’s just about trying to be consistent every week and trying to learn as we go.
“It’s a great start for us.”
After beating the Crusaders last time out, the Hurricanes made 14 changes to their starting side ahead of a home match outside of Wellington up the road in Palmerston North.
Playing at Central Energy Trust Arena, wing Salesi Rayasi crossed for a first-half double as the Canes played at a point a minute for about the first 31 minutes of the contest.
It was a bit more of a battle after the break with the Rebels crossing for multiple tries, including a score on debut for 2023 Junior Wallaby Mason Gordon, but the result was never in doubt.
The Hurricanes put on a show at their home away from home, with the ladder-leaders making a statement with an utterly dominant 54-28 victory.
“Yeah it’s great to be back,” Barrett discussed after returning from a three-game suspension.
“We had a massive challenge tonight, the Rebels are a great side, they play a lot of rugby and have been going through a lot of adversity as a franchise and we knew they were just going to keep turning up for each other.
“It was a tough battle.
“Some great control, particularly with a lot of rotation and changes and some great guys that haven’t had an opportunity in the jersey yet this year and they were outstanding tonight,” he added.
“It was important for us to start strong and yeah, we got a little bit loose in the end there but we’ll take a win against a good Rebels side.”
As for the Rebels, they’ve now lost two matches on the bounce and sit mid-table with a record of two wins and three defeats to date.
The Rebels’ forwards were outmuscled by their opponents, and the backs couldn’t really fire as they weren’t given much opportunity to play with front-foot ball.
After losses to the Queensland Reds and now Hurricanes, captain Rob Leota highlighted the key lesson for the Rebels to learn going into their next clash away to the Waratahs in Sydney.
“We knew it was going to be tough coming over here but we had a real focus on ourselves to really build on last week’s performance,” Leota said.
“Just those big moments, we’ve got to stay in it. We know that’s a big work on for us.”
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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