Hurricanes 30
Reds 17
When the Hurricanes met the Reds in Melbourne, the match reflected the name of the team.
It was far from the best rugby you'll see played by the Wellington franchise. Down 17-0 and playing with 14 men for 20 minutes in the first half, the side found their way back into the game late in the half before sweeping the Reds off the pitch in the second to claim a 30-17 win.
Early on, they were lambasted by the referee's whistle as they looked to get up quickly in defence and were constantly pulled up for being offside.
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Advertise with NZME.It opened the door for the Reds to apply the pressure in the opening exchanges, which saw the side strike fist from the boot of Lawson Creighton, who slotted a close-range penalty after the Hurricanes were pulled up for collapsing the scrum; a call made by the assistant referee on the tighthead side after referee Angus Gardner, positioned on the other side of the scrum, had awarded a free kick to the Hurricanes.
Their early discipline woes compounded within the opening 10 minutes when centre Bailyn Sullivan was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous lifting tackle, and again the Reds attacked.
The Hurricanes showed plenty of heart in their defence with a man down to keep the Reds out – helped by an important turnover forced by second five-eighth Thomas Umaga-Jensen and Reds loosehead Taniela Tupou having his try ruled out due to a double movement.
However, the pressure eventually paid off for the Reds, with Hunter Paisami breaking the line, finding Tupou on his inside, with Tupou handing it on quickly to Hamish Stewart for the opening try 24 minutes in.
Things got worse for the Hurricanes moments later when loosehead Pouri Rakete-Stones was sent to the sin bin for a high shot – mitigated down from a red card as the ball runner was falling in the tackle – and again they were down on numbers.
More penalties allowed the Reds to get to the right end of the field, and loose forward Fraser McReight went over from a lineout drive – the ensuing conversion putting the Queensland side up 17-0 after 30 minutes.
It took a lucky call for the Hurricanes to get on the board. Julian Savea rushed up to intercept a pass, overran it and turned around to pick off the pass. He knocked it down, but it was ruled to go backwards. Sullivan scooped up the loose ball and ran 40m to score. It was the first of three failed intercept attempts in the match – each one hit the deck and was ruled to have gone backwards.
Their defences cracking, the Reds suddenly found themselves the ones to be on the wrong side of the referee's whistle and went a man down when Connor Vest was sin binned on halftime, and a try to tighthead prop Tyrel Lomax saw the Hurricanes down just three at the break.
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Advertise with NZME.It was a painful half of football from a spectator's perspective with penalties, TMO involvements and handling errors accumulating in several stoppages and seeing the half take almost an hour to get through.
Straight out of the break, the Hurricanes didn't waste time going on with the job. Lomax was in again two minutes after the restart
From there, the Hurricanes dominated – and the Reds didn't help their own cause. The strong performance from the opening half hour from the Queensland team was nowhere to be seen as basic errors crept into their game.
Ultimately, the Hurricanes put them to the sword, with a second try to Sullivan sealing a 13-point win.
Hurricanes 30 (Bailyn Sullivan 2, Tyrel Lomax 2 tries; Jordie Barrett 2 cons, 2 pens)
Reds 17 (Hamish Stewart, Fraser McReight tries; Lawson Creighton 2 cons, pen)
HT: 14-17
