Hurricanes take chances to beat Sharks

Hurricanes 23 Sharks 17

The Hurricanes certainly don't care if they fail to win any Super 14 beauty contests.

The Hurricanes have made an artform of winning ugly this season, something they continued tonight when overcoming a plethora of mistakes to beat the Sharks 23-17 at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

There was little to recommend the match, which was perhaps understandable given the wet, windy conditions which the teams had to endure.

The Hurricanes, in particular, were guilty of a truckload of errors but they somehow managed to extricate themselves to engineer a victory which carried them atop the standings.

Their sixth win in seven matches owed much to a quiet self-confidence lacking in previous seasons as the Hurricanes refused to panic despite testing conditions which nullified their vaunted backline.

Fresh from an outstanding win against the Highlanders in Dunedin last week, the Sharks appeared poised to claim a second successive New Zealand scalp when leading 10-6 at halftime and 10-9 entering the last quarter.

The slippery surface made handling and accurate footwork difficult and ultimately put paid to the South African side's hopes.

They relinquished the lead in the 61st minute after failing to gain even a semblance of control following a Hurricanes kick ahead.

The Hurricanes surged as No 8 Rodney So'oialo's grubber-kicked ahead, with winger Lome Fa'atau performing wonders to latch on to the ball just as he was heading into touch.

Fa'atau somehow had the presence of mind to throw a speculative pass behind his back which found flanker Chris Masoe, who raced to the tryline for Jimmy Gopperth to convert.

Fa'atau was in the thick of the action 11 minutes later and on this occasion he was the tryscorer after replacement lock Jason Eaton displayed great co-ordination to bend down and pick up a fumbled ball before charging 20m and offloading to his winger.

The Sharks nabbed a deserved bonus point in the closing minute when replacement back Gcobani Bobo scored a consolation try for Tony Brown to convert and drag the visitors to within six points.

The Sharks had looked the goods in the first half, particularly after lock Johan Ackermann was driven over for a converted try from a lineout in the 34th minute which cancelled out two earlier penalties from Gopperth.

Brown added a first-half penalty of his own two minute later, enabling the Sharks to change ends with a small lead.

Hurricanes captain So'oialo said the conditions dictated that teams kept the ball in hand and try to eliminate their mistakes.

"The wet ball got the better of us and we need to go back on work on that."

In the second half the Hurricanes opted to kick deep into Sharks territory and back their resolute defence to create opportunities.

"We have great defence and were hoping to use that to turn the ball over."

Sharks skipper John Smit was not impressed with his team afterwards, blaming "schoolboy errors" for their downfall.

"It is frustrating, very disappointing," Smit said.

"There is a fundamental rule you learn as a schoolboy and that is not to allow the ball to bounce.

"But we made stupid, silly mistakes to allow that to happen."

He took little away from the Hurricanes, though.

"They had very few chances and when they got them they took them."

Hurricanes 23 (Chris Masoe, Lome Fa'atau tries; Jimmy Gopperth 3 pen, 2 con)
Sharks 17 (Johan Ackermann, Gcobani Bobo tries; Tony Brown pen, 2 con).
HT: 6-10.

- NZPA