Hurricanes captain TJ Perenara has praised the Brumbies after they beat his team 52-10 at Canberra’s GIO Stadium in their season opener.
The Hurricanes were the best team in Super Rugby for most of the season in 2015 and finished at the top of the standings which earned them the right to host the final.
The Hurricanes were beaten 14-21 and are rebuilding after losing star players such as Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu but few expected them to be outscored seven tries to one in the match.
“They played very well tonight. I thought they were very physical and did very well slowing down our breakdown,” said stand-in Hurricanes captain TJ Perenara.
The Hurricanes were a shadow of the team they were in 2015 and went ten matches unbeaten.
Perenara admitted that his team would have to step for next week’s match which is a rematch of the 2015 final,
“We need to be better, though, going forward, we need to come up with ways to play against that sort of defence,” said Perenara.
“The boys learnt a lot out of tonight’s game.”
