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Hurricanes

Rebels
Full Time
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Rebels downed by classy Hurricanes

The RaboDirect Rebels were unable to stop a rampant Hurricanes side from scoring nine tries in Wellington on Saturday afternoon.
Initially the Rebels looked promising in attack, and took an early lead with a superb solo try from Cooper Vuna. Taking a short ball from Kurtley Beale, the winger stepped, fended and drove his way over the line with three Hurricanes players desperately attempting to haul him down.
As the first half wore on, however, the Hurricanes began to display their trademark attacking verve. With clever running lines from their forward pack, deft offloads and quick ball from every breakdown, the Hurricanes repeatedly opened up the Rebels’ defence.
It seemed only a matter of time before the home side picked up a try of their own, and soon enough a stunning pass from TJ Perenara behind his back allowed Andre Taylor to dive over in the corner and level the scores.
The home side’s second score followed soon after, as a grubber kick behind the Melbourne defence bounced up perfectly into the arms of winger Alapata Leiua.
The Rebels continued their attacking efforts, but were unable to penetrate the brutal Hurricanes defence. Slower to the breakdown than their eager opponents, the Rebels’ inability to protect the ball in contact eventually resulted in two further Hurricanes tries, both scored by Julian Savea.
As the Hurricanes’ confidence swelled they began running the ball from all corners of the field, and Vuna was sharp enough to intercept an ambitious pass to score his second, bringing the score back to 31-17 just after the half hour mark.
But the Hurricanes maintained their dominance of possession and territory, and before long flanker Jack Lam burst over the Rebels’ try line from short range following more excellent build-up work by his colleagues in the pack.
Trailing by 21 points at half-time the Rebels were by no means out of the contest, but after the break they still struggled to find the same offensive cohesion they had shown in their two previous games.
The Hurricanes defence was letting nothing through, while more momentum-building runs from their strong forward pack laid the platform for three further tries to Leiua, Savea and Taylor. Barrett’s faultless kicking display took the score out to 59-17 from the resulting conversions.
With a quarter still to play the Rebels bravely battled on as injuries began to mount, but once again the Hurricanes defence was impermeable. Substitute Chris Eaton eventually picked up the home side’s ninth score, finding a big gap beside a rolling maul to skip over untouched.
Vuna almost picked up a hat-trick with a chip and chase in the dying minutes, but the ball bounced just out of his reach as he attempted to ground it.
The Rebels’ brave effort continued after the buzzer, however, and their unwavering endeavour eventually resulted in a consolation try as Adam Freier burrowed over for his side’s third.
Rebels ready to be tested in Wellington
After a demanding but fruitful trip over to Western Australia last weekend, the RaboDirect Rebels are preparing themselves for another stern encounter as they head east over the Tasman to take on the Hurricanes in Wellington.
The Rebels just did enough to beat the Force in Perth, but they will be happy to have come away with the win from a game of two halves. Unable to maintain the balance of order and urgency that earned them four first-half tries, the Rebels allowed the home side to take control of the match after the interval and it almost cost them dearly.
Head Coach Damien Hill said his team had identified plenty of things to work on from their last outing, as they ready themselves to face one of the season’s surprise performers.
“I think we’ve got a lot of room for improvement. Our theme for this year is to build, and that’s going to continue,” said Hill.
“We’ve all got a lot of respect for the Hurricanes and the way they’ve improved this year.
“We’re playing a very similar team to the ones we’ve played the last couple of weeks – a team with a big pack, an exciting back three, and they’re playing at home. We’re in for a really tough day at the office.”
Click HERE to see the team named for the Hurricanes game.
Despite losing household names such as Ma’a Nonu and Piri Weepu at the end of last season, the Hurricanes have been lucky enough to unearth some of New Zealand’s likely future stars to replace them.
The meteoric rise of youngsters such as five-eighth Beauden Barrett, scrum half TJ Perenara and winger Julian Savea have emphatically disproven any theories that the men from Wellington wouldn’t have a strong enough squad to compete this year.
Full back André Taylor has undoubtedly been the Hurricanes’ stand-out player this season, and the Rebels will need to keep a close eye on him. A mainstay of the weekly highlights reel, Taylor dazzles defences with his speed and footwork, and has so far contributed eight tries to his team’s tally.
And while the Hurricanes’ new backline tends to draw most of the attention, quiet workhorses in the forward pack such as Dane Coles, Jason Eaton, Jeremy Thrush and All Black Victor Vito have steadily been providing their young teammates with the platform to make their names.
One of the strongest attacking sides in the competition, the Hurricanes have scored 40 tries so far this season - more than any other team. With many of those resulting from lightning-fast counter-attacks that open up space for strike men Savea, Taylor and All Blacks Corey Jane and Conrad Smith, the Rebels will need another strong defensive performance combined with ruthless discipline to protect their own ball.
Last year when the Hurricanes visited Melbourne, they sped out to a 17-0 lead with three tries in just over 15 minutes. Perhaps thinking they would be able to cruise to an easy win over the newcomers, the Hurricanes appeared to switch off defensively and could only watch as the Rebels piled on the points in a triumphant 42-25 victory.
The Rebels can be certain that they won’t see any such lack of focus when the return fixture kicks off in Wellington on Saturday afternoon. The Hurricanes come off a frustrating 37-25 loss to the Brumbies, a game which they led with a quarter remaining, and they now have just four matches left to try and keep their finals hopes alive.
For the Rebels to win three consecutive games for the first time in their history - a feat that would also include their first back-to-back away victories and their first win outside Australia –nothing less than their best will suffice.
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Hurricanes
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| 1. May |
| 2. Coles |
| 3. Toomaga-Allen |
| 4. Thrush |
| 5. Eaton |
| 6. Levave |
| 7. Lam |
| 8. Vito |
| 9. Perenara |
| 10. Barrett |
| 11. Savea |
| 12. Bateman |
| 13. Smith |
| 14. Leiua |
| 15. Taylor |
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| RESERVES |
| 16. Matu'u |
| 18. Broadhurst |
| 19. Shields |
| 20. Eaton |
| 22. Hayward |
| Time: |
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TRIES |
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PENALTY TRIES |
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CONVERSIONS |
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PENALTY GOALS |
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DROP GOALS |
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| % |
POSSESSION |
% |
| m |
RUN METRES |
m |
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ADVANTAGE LINE |
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OFF LOADS |
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LINE BREAKS |
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KICKS |
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| / |
TACKLES/ATTEMPTS |
/ |
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PILFERS |
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PENALITIES CONCEDED |
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ERRORS |
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SIN BIN |
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SEND OFF |
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Rebels
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| 1. Henderson |
| 2. Robinson |
| 3. Owen |
| 4. Neville |
| 5. Pyle |
| 6. Jones |
| 7. Davidson |
| 8. Delve |
| 9. Phipps |
| 10. Beale |
| 11. Vuna |
| 12. Mitchell |
| 13. Inman |
| 14. Gerrard |
| 15. Huxley |
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| RESERVES |
| 16. Freier |
| 17. Blake |
| 18. Campbell |
| 19. Chamberlain |
| 20. Kingi |
| 21. Hilgendorf |
| 22. Mortlock |