SYDNEY - Hurricanes skipper Norm Hewitt says his players will need to work on their discipline, after a sending-off and two sinbinnings against the Waratahs on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes kept their top-four hopes in rugby's Super 12 alive with a courageous 27-20 win over the New South Wales side at
the Sydney Football Stadium, despite twice being reduced to 13 men.
Winger Jonah Lomu was sent off in first-half injury time for a second yellow card, while Hewitt and No 8 Filo Tiatia spent time in the sinbin in the second half.
South African referee Andre Watson also sinbinned Waratahs lock John Welborn for over- vigorous rucking.
Lomu's first yellow card in just the third minute was for a spear tackle on NSW second five-eighth Nathan Grey. His second was for intentionally knocking down a pass close to the Hurricanes line.
"We just had lapses in discipline that led to yellow cards and the sending-off of Jonah," Hewitt said.
"It's something we are definitely going to have to look at if we believe we can go on."
However, the hooker also pointed to extenuating circum-stances.
"When you get down to 14 players there's a lot of desperation there," he said.
"Suddenly, you go down to 13 players and there's even more desperation."
Hewitt's own yellow card, his second of the season, was for using a knee and he admitted he was disappointed with himself that, as skipper, he was sent to cool his heels on the sidelines.
The Hurricanes began the match much the sharper of the two sides and grabbed the first try midway through the half when speedy winger Brad Fleming latched on to an intercept to sprint 70m to the line.
With the Waratahs struggling to match the Hurricanes' pace and aggression, two tries to Wellington halfback Jason Spice saw the score balloon to 27-3 four minutes from the interval.
The first resulted from a clever lineout ploy, while the second came after Hewitt spurned an easy shot at goal and went for a tap penalty instead.
The Waratahs took immediate advantage of Lomu's sending-off to put fullback Matt Burke over and reduced the deficit to 27-10 at halftime.
With their superiority in numbers, they dominated territory in the second half, but mistakes and committed Hurricanes defence limited them to just one more try, to winger Scott Staniforth.
Victory for the Hurricanes lifted them back into the top four with 28 points, with away matches against the Stormers and the Bulls to come.
But defeat for the Waratahs effectively ended any realistic hopes they had of making the playoffs.
Hurricanes coach Graham Mourie praised the "gutsy" performance of his players.
While he was happy with the result, he was still nervous about his side's points tally on the table.
"We've had six wins, but only four bonus points is the problem. We needed the extra point from this match."
Mourie did not want to comment on Lomu's sending-off or the number of yellow cards handed out by Watson.
"But, without commenting on individual cases, we feel we've had a bit of a raw deal over some of the yellow cards we've had this year."
- NZPA
