Rugby: Cruden turns on a late dash to deny valiant Force

John Schwalger, of the Hurricanes, meets Nathan Charles last night. Picture / Getty Images

Hurricanes 34
Force 28

Playing on his home turf, Aaron Cruden showed what some of the fuss was about, delivering a flawless final 30 minutes to set the Hurricanes up for a rare bonus-point win against the visiting Force.

Eight points down with the clock their enemy, Cruden took on the line and made holes at will, setting up both James Broadhurst and Cory Jane for tries that took them past a Force team that were much better than advertised, even without their best player, James O'Connor.

For 70 minutes, it looked like the Hurricanes' nightmare story was set to continue.

The Hurricanes have had issues with injuries, as have most teams, but their reasons for starting this match at the bottom of the New Zealand conference would seem to go deeper.

For whatever reason, the Mark Hammett-Hurricanes liaison has not worked out smoothly. You don't drop your captain and most experienced international forward if things are going along swimmingly, as coach Hammett did this week with Andrew Hore, who made a difference when he came on last night.

In years to come, the former Crusader may lead them to the promised land, but at this stage there have been more teething problems than a mouthful of wisdoms.

For all their woes, they sat higher than the Force on the overall table at the start of the match. The West Australians' third-placing in the Australian conference amply demonstrated the paucity of talent in that sector of the draw.

Which made the events of the first 40 minutes even harder to fathom. The Force don't like scoring tries, they're in the midst of a record-breaking season in terms of banging over penalties, but five-pointers aren't really their thing.

Yet Rory Sidey and Cameron Shepherd scored two simple, perfectly constructed tries, that helped propel them to an 18-10 lead at the turn.

Ma'a Nonu had earlier scored his first try of the season, made by his All Black teammates Hosea Gear and Conrad Smith. It promised brighter things to come but they never arrived. The work of the outsides was fine, but the direction of the halves was lacking.

Hammett threw on Piri Weepu. It was not as if the returning All Black was that much sharper than Chris Eaton, but suddenly Cruden, desperately disappointing on his home ground in the first half, found an extra gear.

Several extra gears actually.

Hurricanes

Tries: Ma'a Nonu 2, James Broadhurst, Cory Jane

Penalties: Aaron Cruden 2

Conversions: Aaron Cruden 4

Force

Tries: Rory Sidey, Cameron Shepherd, Ben McCalman

Penalties: Cameron Shepherd 3

Conversions: Cameron Shepherd 2

Halftime: 10-18