Hurricanes destroy Rebels
The Hurricanes kept their Super Rugby playoff hopes alive with an emphatic 66-24 bonus-point demolition of the Rebels in Wellington on Saturday.
It was a record Super Rugby score for the Hurricanes, who bounced back from their 37-25 loss to the Brumbies last week with a nine-try blitz.
Julian Savea, who is tipped to make his All Blacks debut against Ireland next month, scored three tries while Andre Taylor and Alapati Leiua scored two each. Beauden Barrett converted them all and added a penalty for 21 points.
The Hurricanes now sit just outside the cut-off point for the playoffs in a cluster involving the Sharks, Highlanders and Reds in a battle for the vital sixth position.
"We were pretty disappointed with the way things went last week. We just wanted to come out and put a good performance together and you just had a feeling all week we were due for a good one," said Conrad Smith.
"There's a lot of nice talent coming through and it's good to have a side with a lot of character that allows guys to play like that and look good," added the Hurricanes skipper.
For the visiting Rebels, who scored first, their hopes of achieving three consecutive victories for the first time in their history were dashed by a poor defensive effort and their chances of qualifying look remote.
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The Hurricanes trailed 3-10 early in the match before Taylor scored his first try to set them on the way to a 38-17 lead by halftime.
With scrumhalf TJ Perenara influential, the Hurricanes allowed the Rebels little time to attack.
When they did, the Rebels made the most of them, with Cooper Vuna scoring twice in the first half -- the first after Kurtley Beale carved through the Hurricanes line and the second from an intercept.
But it was never going to be enough against a fired-up Hurricanes whose powerful tackling gave them ample turnover ball.
Perenara and Tim Bateman set up the Hurricanes' first try with a blind-side move which ended with a desperate flick pass from Bateman that Taylor scooped up from his bootlaces to dive over the line.
Leiua and Savea both scored tries by gathering a favourable bounce from a chip kick, Barrett created the gap for another Savea try and Jack Lam scored from turnover ball.
The Hurricanes scored almost immediately after the resumption with Leiua's second try coming after Victor Vito had set the Rebels back with a 40-metre run.
Savea benefited from a long Perenara pass for his third try before Taylor, the competition's leading try-scorer, crossed for his second to give him 10 for the season.
A try to replacement scrumhalf Chris Eaton had the Hurricanes up 66-17 before Adam Freier picked up a consolation third try for the Rebels on fulltime.
SCORERS
Hurricanes – Tries: Andre Taylor (2), Alapati Leiua (2), Julian Savea (3), Jack Lam, Chris Eaton. Conversions: Beauden Barrett (9). Penalty: Barrett.
Rebels – Try: Cooper Vuna (2), Adam Freier. Conversions: Kurtley Beale (2), Richard Kingi.. Penalty: Beale.
