'No guarantees': Jordie Barrett on the Hurricanes' playoff hopes
Hurricanes captain Jordie Barrett was pleased with the 41-14 win over the Highlanders but all focus now turns to recovery for the Melbourne Rebels next weekend.
After securing their first home playoff fixture in five years, the Hurricanes were handed an extra bonus later in the evening when the Blues failed to capture a bonus point win over the Chiefs. A late try to Josh Ioane handed the Hurricanes the number one seed ahead of the playoffs.
Barrett said that the focus all season has been on earning a home playoff after two consecutive defeats at the hands of the Brumbies in Canberra.
"The past few seasons all we have wanted is a home quarter-final, I guess the great thing was it was in our control tonight," Barrett told Sky Sport NZ.
"We managed to get a bonus point win and it's out of control now.
"We just want to control our own destiny and we'll be looking no further than next week. The weeks ahead of next week are no guarantees so as long as we prepare well we will give ourselves the best chance possible.
"It wasn't easy tonight, it was a tough and resilient, gritty Highlanders side as we expected. They've got themselves a quarter-final so they'll be tough to beat as well."
The road to the Super Rugby title runs through Wellington for the time being which could prove decisive.
Conditions at Sky Stadium were a factor with Highlanders captain Billy Harmon calling Wellington "one of the hardest places to come play."
"I'm not sure the camera will do it justice but it's so blustery out here," Barrett said.
"Kicking game is so tough, even playing with a bit of width, it's windy Wellington alright."
Harmon highlighted the strong wind and rain that disrupted their kicking game as a key reason for the loss, something that the Melbourne Rebels will have to content with next week.
"It's tough to get your game plan going when you can't nail the kicks in the wind," he said.
"With a team like the Hurricanes, if you can't put them down deep in their own half, they are going to play. And that's what they did.
"They're a good team, they've got some unreal players so credit to them."
The Hurricanes maiden Super Rugby title in 2016 came after securing home field advantage through the playoffs.
The 2016 team finished with the number one seed after a number of results fell their way in the final round like this year's side.
They were able to defeat the Lions 20-3 to secure the championship and go one further than the 14-2 team from 2015 that lost the final.
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They also use a far more consistent scale.
Rugby pass seem to have a different scale for each player based on the authors expectations or how much he likes them.
Can't fathom how Moodie and Reece both were a 3.
Go to commentsYes for sure, thanks for sharing. I fully understand that both parties are better off, no one needs to lose, neither competition suffers, in fact both can be better as a result.
Too many true rugby fans (and analysts) don't understand that.
I wouldn't imagine there is a date aye. It was a long decline rugby in SA and Australia was going through, and was so bad it even effected NZ, caused them to argue to can a couple of teams. The nation of SA probably grew into it? I know I watch more of the NH now specifically because of the SR teams playing there. I actually had to mention to Nick Bishop (because of his stubborn perspective) the other day that I've never been a fan of Super Rugby, I don't think they chose the right way to go about professionalism back in 1995. Unfortunately, NZR was stuck between a rock and a hard place, because it had SA's and Australians that ran their unions by States, so we had to separate into "two or three" teams as a result. Our game is in the kak now because of it, they want to kill off the lifeblood of our National Provincial Championship. But now we might see a way out of it, so it's all good.
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