Hurricanes devastate Waratahs in Wellington

After a slight stutter in Canberra last weekend, the Hurricane train is back on track after a resounding 41-12 win over the Waratahs in Wellington tonight.

Hurricane’s ninth win of the season puts them top of the Super Rugby Pacific table six points clear of second place, while TJ Perenara extended his record as the competition’s leading try scorer with his 63rd race when the siren sounds.

It was an explosive start for the Hurricane, who scored three tries in the first twenty minutes, before a late double from Salesi Rayasi sealed the victory.

“That’s the result we prepared for all week, we were happy to come home and put on a performance for the home crowd and also for ourselves,” Rayasi said. Sky sport.

The Canes faltered a bit at the start of the second, before Rayasi and his replacement teammates closed the show in style.

“As a bank we want to reach out and make an impact, make sure we are contributing to team performance and not lowering standards.”

Hurricane captain Billy Proctor said it was the perfect response to last week’s loss to the Brumbies.

“We didn’t play the way we wanted to (in Canberra), but I think we came out tonight and started the game very strong, which went a long way towards winning it.”

He admitted that it was not a perfect performance and that they left many points in the park.

“Sometimes we were a little careless, the result could have been different if we had been a little smarter about that kind of thing.”

He said there is a lot of competition for spots on the team now.

“A lot of the guys who haven’t played had chances tonight and put in a good performance. I feel bad for Clarkey (coach Clark Laidlaw) because he’s got a bit of work to do now, doesn’t he?”

It didn’t take long for the Canes to make their mark, as Peter Lakai broke the line strong and put his team on attack.

The hosts would touch but send a statement in the scrum, forcing a tight header when Braden Iose went to the blindside.

He found his defender Ruben Love, who in turn passed it to Proctor to open the scoring.

A prolonged attack soon after finally saw the Waratah break again, with Brett Cameron crossing the chalk.

Love lit things up again from the back, a dazzling run that had the Waratahs scrambling before hooker Kianu Kereru-Symes slotted the ball past Josh Moorby to make the score 21-0 after just 18 minutes.

Another run by Love led to a line break by Devan Flanders, who in turn threw it to Moorby, who sent in Iose for Cane’s fourth.

The visitors had a chance to score some points when the siren sounded, but Hunter Ward squandered it to send the teams to the sheds with a score of 26-0.

It was a slightly sloppy start to the second for the Hurricanes, and they eventually stringed together 10 phases inside the Tah 22 before the error came right at the line.

Another attempt failed soon after, when Ben Grant attacked Jack Grant’s kick into the box and scored, only for replays to show a slight knock on the deflection.

With momentum stalled, replacement Du’Plessis Kirifi got things started with a turnover and then a powerful drive into the 22 as the Hurricanes quickly recycled to send in Salesi Rayasi for the first try of the second half.

It took until the 65th minute but the Waratahs finally got on the board thanks to a clever offload from Tane Edmund that left debutant Vuate Karawalevu speechless as he pulled away to score.

Rayasi countered in spectacular fashion, first his counter-attack putting his team ahead, before taking on Karawalevu, skinning him on the outside and scoring with an impressive acrobatic leap into the corner.

The Waratahs scored a late consolation try through lock Hugh Sinclair, while the Canes capped the victory with Perenara’s record-extending try, sneaking in from the base of a ruck.

Scorers:

Hurricanes 41 (Rayasi 2, Proctor, Cameron, Iose, Moorby, Perenara, attempts, Cameron 3 cons)

Waratahs 12 (Karawalevu, Sinclair tries, Edmund 1 scam)