Hooker Andrew Hore was the man of the match in the Hurricanes vs Chiefs match which effectively ended the Chiefs hopes of a semi final play off.
The Chiefs will now head for Sydney to face the Waratahs next week and again they will face a team hell bent on securing a home semi final. The Hurricanes take on the Reds next week.
The Hurricanes managed to get the bonus point in the last seconds and this could prove crucial at the end of the tournament when the calculators come out to see who plays who and where.
The result puts the top three fairly safe leaving only the Brumbies, Bulls & Sharks in real contention for a semi final spot.
The match itself was a hard fought forward driven encounter filled with lost of handling errors due to the wet ground from the earlier rainfall.
The three Hore tries came from pushovers and is the first time that a Hooker has scored three tries in a Super rugby match.
The only try in the first half was Hore’s first and Holwell’s boot gave the Hurricanes a 16 – 3 lead at half time.
The match offered little excitement but both teams did try to play positive rugby in the second half and this led to both teams crossing the try line but it was Hore who made the difference getting the ball over the line twice more.
After the hooter Umaga kicked the ball through the Chiefs back line for Shannon Paku who was attacking at pace and he dotted the ball down for the Hurricane’s bonus point try.
Scorers
Hurricanes -Tries, Andrew Hore 3, Shannon Paku -Conversions, Holwell 2, Gopperth , Penalties, Holwell 3
Chiefs, Tries- Sam Tuitupou , Conversions, Donald , Penalties, Donald
