Hurricanes 'exceptional' in the tackle says Reds coach

Raw physical strength at the breakdowns and an effective defensive pattern paved the way for the Wellington Hurricanes' 24-10 Super 12 rugby win over the Queensland Reds at Ballymore on Saturday night, with Reds coach Jeff Miller the first to congratulate them on their work in the tackle.

"I think their breakdown work was exceptional," Miller said after the game. "They were very physical. We spoke about it, we worked on it all week, but we just weren't efficient enough at the breakdown.

"I think that is where they won the game, maybe our turnovers didn't help either, but their physicality at the breakdown was terrific. "

The Hurricanes repeatedly not only slowed up the Reds ball in the tackle, but frequently ripped it off them, with All Blacks Rodney So'oialo and Jerry Collins teaming well with scavenger flanker Ben Herring, while captain Tana Umaga did more than his share of work assisting them to turn possession over.

The win did not come as easily as the final score suggests, for the Reds were still in with a chance of taking the match with five minutes left, before the Hurricanes sealed it with a penalty and then a dying-seconds try to winger Lome Fa'atau.

The Hurricanes hadn't won their opening match since 2000 and had a nightmare start when Elton Flatley scooped on a loose ball and sprinted 40m to score after just 27 seconds.

But the visitors slowly ground their way into the game and were convincingly dominating territory by halftime, even if they only had a spectacular Ma'a Nonu try and two penalties to debutant first five-eighth Jimmy Gopperth to show for it.

The young Reds forwards tore into their work in the second half and threatened on occasions but the Hurrricanes defence held them out until the game's most controversial moment when Wellington lock Ross Kennedy was sin-binned by referee Shaun Veldsman. There had not seemed to be the usual warning that a yellow card could come for such an infringement and the frustration was obvious, with Umaga pleading with Veldsman for consistency.

The Reds took advantage with lock Nathan Sharpe crashing over for a try, but the Hurricanes regathered and even though their line was under threat in the last 10 minutes they repelled the Reds and finished convincingly.

Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper said he was happy with the win, particularly with the work at the breakdown.

The Hurricanes had clearly noted a weakness in the Reds' play there in their last pre-season match.

"We saw an opportunity there with the Reds, so we are quite pleased with that.

"We've got a great D (defence). Individually these guys are very physical, so it's about discipline, about having systems and I was pretty pleased with the system.

"But we made it hard on ourselves. We missed three or four opportunities in the first half and credit to the Reds; they never gave up. They kept coming at us and we had to really work for those points."

The Hurricanes travel to Johannesburg tomorrow for a match against the Cats next weekend, before heading to Durban to take on the Sharks a week later. They will be without Umaga for the Cats' game as he left for London today for the northern versus southern hemispheres tsunami charity match at Twickenham on Saturday.

Cooper acknowledged he was a huge loss - "when he is up, this team is invincible" - but said the team had been preparing for some time to deal with his absence.

The Reds meanwhile have big problems. They fly to New Zealand on Wednesday for clashes with the Auckland Blues, the Canterbury Crusaders and the Waikato Chiefs. They have obvious concerns with their loose forwards at the breakdown, while Julian Huxley missed four successive kicks at goal on Saturday night and a mixed game at first five-eighth.

Scores:

Hurricanes 24 (Ma'a Nonu, Lome Fa'atau tries; Jimmy Gopperth 2 pen 1 con, Piri Weepu 2 pen)

Reds 10 (Elton Flatley, Nathan Sharpe tries).

Crowd: 20,076.

- NZPA