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Salesi Rayasi hat-trick sees Hurricanes past Highlanders

Salesi Rayasi of the Hurricanes celebrates with Billy Proctor after scoring a try. Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

The Hurricanes hosted the Highlanders in round 15 with a chance to finish atop the Super Rugby Pacific table and claim home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

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While the Highlanders came out of the gates firing, Jordie Barrett rallied his troops with an early speech and the Hurricanes never looked back, running out to a 41-14 win.

The Wellington wind was just as excited about the heritage jerseys on display as the rest of us, and it was clear from the outset it would play a heavy role in the contest.

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The lads have plenty of big club games to react to this week after finals in Europe and Japan as well as some huge results in Super Rugby Pacific. We start by dissecting the games in Christchurch and Hamilton before casting an eye over the Champions Cup final.

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The lads have plenty of big club games to react to this week after finals in Europe and Japan as well as some huge results in Super Rugby Pacific. We start by dissecting the games in Christchurch and Hamilton before casting an eye over the Champions Cup final.

Ajay Faleafaga won the opening kicking duel by landing a 50-22 and it took just two phases for the Highlanders to find a seam in the Hurricanes’ defensive line, with an offload from Billy Harmon setting up Matt Whaanga to power over the line, dragging Jordie Barrett over with him.

The Hurricanes were eager to respond and Barrett’s improved skillset attacking an aggressive defensive line was on full display as he whipped a long pass to find Asafo Aumua on the wing. The hooker showed no signs of hesitancy despite returning from injury and shrugged off his first defender before finding milestone man Salesi Rayasi who scored the try.

A Hurricanes lineout just inside the Highlanders’ half saw the home team take play into centrefield with their first phase, only to then unleash an attacking play where they switched the direction of play twice to open up a small gap next to the last ruck which was hit at pace by Rayasi. The winger offloaded to Du’Plessis Kirifi who made another 20 meters.

After another bruising carry from Aumua in the wide channel, it was Kirifi who finished the effort by diving under three defenders to reach the chalk.

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The Wellington side were playing with energy and opportunism. A Kirifi turnover at the breakdown was followed by a quick tap and a chip-and-chase by Jordie Barrett resulting in a rushed highlanders clearance.

The ‘Canes worked a simple one-two off the front of the lineout between Aumua and TJ Perenara who scored in the corner to extend his record as Super Rugby’s highest all-time try-scorer.

Attack

221
Passes
108
160
Ball Carries
95
428m
Post Contact Metres
182m
10
Line Breaks
5

It was a tough ask to stop the steamtrain that is the Hurricanes forward pack during phase play and the Highlanders weren’t faring well early. Big meters were made and the Hurricane earned another lineout just shy of the Highlanders line. From there, a maul sucked in defenders before the ball was fired out to the backs and it was Rayasi again who finished the effort.

The Highlanders got an opportunity to attack via a lineout drive of their own thanks to some Hurricanes ill-discipline and went to work. The effort was broken up but a couple of phases later lock Fabian Holland picked the ball up himself and got under the defence to score.

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The good news would be short-lived for Highlanders fans however as it took just minutes for the Hurricanes to get back over the line through Kirifi, who powered through two front rowers to score before a TMO intervention shortly after led to a yellow card to Connor Garden-Bachop.

The challenging conditions made conversions a steep challenge but Sam Gilbert nailed both of his for the Highlanders while Brett Cameron made just two of his five attempts. Halftime score: 29-14.

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The Highlanders made four changes to their tight five at halftime and Asafo Aumua was replaced for the Hurricanes.

After a stalemate period to open the second half, the Hurricanes found their rhythm on a counter-attack and yet again it was Rayasi who beat the final defender to collect his hat-trick. Unfortunately for the Highlanders, the score came with more bad news as Sam Gilbert was sent from the field with a yellow card.

The bad news for Hurricanes – and potentially All Blacks– fans is that both TJ Perenara and Ruben Love limped to the sideline in the opening hour. Du’Plessis Kirifi didn’t return after leaving for an HIA.

Still, up a man, Brayden Iose powered off the back of a scrum to score the Hurricanes’ seventh try of the night.

In his first start for the Highlanders, young fullback Finn Hurley was making his mark on the contest on both sides of the ball and saved another Hurricanes try by tackling Riley Higgins out as the replacement midfielder looked to score in the corner.

Defence dominated the final quarter of the contest as the rapid pace of the game caught up with the players. Final score: 41-14.

 

Watch the exclusive reveal-all episode of Walk the Talk with Ardie Savea as he chats to Jim Hamilton about the RWC 2023 experience, life in Japan, playing for the All Blacks and what the future holds. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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