Kini Naholo of the Hurricanes dives over to score a try Super Rugby Pacific at Sky Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand. Photo: Masanori Udagawa / Photosport
The Hurricanes' season roared back into life with a 57-12 win over the New South Wales Waratahs in Wellington. The game was a tense affair until the Waratahs lost several key players to injury, as well as a costly yellow card in the second half.
Kini Naholo scored twice in the first half to get the Hurricanes on the board, after the Waratahs had opened the scoring with a nice effort by Lawson Creighton. However, that was one of the last things Creighton would do, along with Max Jorgensen, he found himself leaving the field.
All eyes were on Joseph-Akuso Suaalii, however while the former State of Origin player was very impressive on defence, the Hurricanes' had clearly worked out a plan to contain his excellent ball running abilities.
The Waratahs would've been happy to go into the break down by three points, however the game was taken away from them in the blink of an eye when the Hurricanes scored twice just before halftime. First Asafo Aumua barged over, then Cam Roigard finished off a sweeping move to make the score 24-7 at halftime.
A try to Waratahs winger Archie Saunders proved to be a false dawn, after that the Hurricanes forwards drove their way for a penalty try after 51 minutes. The resulting yellow card to Waratahs skipper Joey Walton saw two more tries ran in by Ngane Punivai and Brad Shields, before Bailyn Sullivan was well rewarded for an excellent performance with a try of his own.
There was just enough time left for Naholo to complete his hat trick, bulldozing his way over in the corner.
Once again, the Hurricanes' effort was built on some outstanding work at the breakdown by Du'Plessis Kirifi, who is making the calls for him to be included in this year's All Black squad even louder. Naholo's efforts in the last two games mean he's not too far behind, either.
The Hurricanes move up to sixth on the table and now look forward to a trip to Eden Park to face a Blues side in disarray. The Waratahs head to Auckland too, where they'll face Moana Pasifika next Saturday afternoon.
Read how the match unfolded with RNZ's live blog:
Team lists
Hurricanes: 1. Xavier Numia, 2. Asafo Aumua (cc), 3. Tyrel Lomax, 4. Caleb Delany, 5. Zach Gallagher, 6. Brayden Iose, 7. Du'Plessis Kirifi (cc), 8. Peter Lakai, 9. Cam Roigard, 10. Riley Hohepa, 11. Kini Naholo, 12. Bailyn Sullivan, 13. Peter Umaga-Jensen, 14. Ngatungane Punivai, 15. Ruben Love
Bench: 16. Jacob Devery, 17. Pouri Rakete-Stones, 18. Tevita Mafileo, 19. Isaia Walker-Leawere, 20. Brad Shields, 21. Jordi Viljoen, 22. Fatafehi Fineanganofo, 23. Kade Banks
Waratahs: 1. Angus Bell, 2. Julian Heaven, 3. Taniela Tupou, 4. Ben Grant, 5. Miles Amatosero, 6. Rob Leota, 7. Charlie Gamble, 8. Langi Gleeson, 9. Teddy Wilson, 10. Lawson Creighton, 11. Archie Saunders, 12. Joey Walton (c), 13. Joseph Suaalii, 14. Darby Lancaster, 15. Max Jorgensen
Bench: 16. Ethan Dobbins, 17. Isaac Kailea, 18. Daniel Botha, 19. Felix Kalapu, 20. Jamie Adamson, 21. Jack Grant, 22. Tane Edmed, 23. Lalakai Foketi
