Hurricanes come from behind to beat Waratahs

Wellington’s Hurricanes needed a try in the last five minutes of the match to beat the Waratahs 19-20 at Brookvale Ovale in the Super rugby season opener.

Bernard Foley had the opportunity to snatch the victory for the Waratahs in the final minute with a penalty kick from a scrum but he missed.

With his first penalty kick attempt Foley was successful and overtook Matt Burke as the highest Waratahs points scorer in Super Rugby.

The Hurricanes outscored the Waratahs by two tries to one in the match.

The Hurricanes late victory came from a try by debutant Du’Plessis Kirifi with an earlier try by Ardie Savea.

The Waratahs only try was scored by Curtis Rona following a break from Israel Folau. The Waratahs other points came from Foley’s boots through one conversion and four penalties.

It was a stuttering performance from both teams littered with penalties which can arguably be excused for the first match of the season.

After 14 penalties were dished out evenly in the first half the Waratahs led 12-10 at half time and went further ahead with Rona’s try.

The Hurricanes followed that up with a penalty kick from Jordie Barrett.

In the final quarter the Hurricanes stepped up the pressure but were denied tries on twice by the TMO. Their first disallowed try came as a result of an elbow charge in the build up to the try in the 66th minute.

The second was just three minutes later when winger Ben Lam crashed over in the corner but replays confirmed that he had been in touch.

The Hurricanes kept the Waratahs pinned back in their 22 for most of the final quarter and in the 74th minute Kirifi sliced through the Waratahs from a line out to score.

Barrett added the conversion to put the Hurricanes into the lead.

A massive scrum effort two minutes later gave Foley the chance to steal the win but his kick went wide. From there the Hurricanes kept the Waratahs pinned back in their half for three minutes into injury time and two line outs from penalties.

The Hurricanes stole the final line out and kicked the ball into touch to seal the result.

Next week the Waratahs travel to Tokyo to play the Sunwolves while the Hurricanes face the defending champion Crusaders in Christchurch.

Final Score Waratahs 19 (12) Hurricanes 20 (10)

Scorers

Waratahs
Tries – C.Rona
Pen – B.Foley 4
Con – B.Foley
Drop –
Cards –

Hurricanes
Tries – A.Savea, D. Kirifi
Pen – J.Barrett 2
Con – F.Smith, J.Barrett
Drop –
Cards –

Match Officials
Referee: Angus Gardner
Assistant Ref 1:Ben O’Keeffe
Assistant Ref 2:Damon Murphy
TMO :  James Leckie

Teams

Waratahs

15 Israel Folau, 14 Alex Newsome, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Karmichael Hunt, 11 Curtis Rona, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Jed Holloway, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Damien Fitzpatrick, 1 Harry Johnson-Holmes

Replacements: 16 Tolu Latu, 17 Rory O’Connor, 18 Chris Talakai, 19 Lachlan Swinton, 20 Will Miller, 21 Mitch Short, 22 Mack Mason, 23 Cam Clark

Hurricanes

15 Jordie Barrett, 14. Wes Goosen , 13 Vince Aso , 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Fletcher Smith, 9 TJ Perenara (c), 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Reed Prinsep, 5 Liam Mitchell, 4 James Blackwell, 3 Jeff To’omaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Chris Eves

Replacements : 16 Dane Coles, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Ben May, 19 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 20 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 James Marshall, 23 Billy Proctor