Jordie and Beauden Barrett contributed 19 points to inspire the Hurricanes to a 34-15 bonus-point win over the Reds in Brisbane on Saturday. MARIETTE ADAMS reports.
It took the visitors a while to get out of first gear against a stern Reds defence, but they had the firepower to down the hosts, despite having three tries reversed following TMO reviews.
After a frustrating opening 15 minutes, the Hurricanes hit their stride with a double strike in two minutes. With a 10-phase attack, they sent the Reds defence side to side, creating an overlap from which Julian Savea scored. Not long after, with the Reds on attack, stand-in captain TJ Perenara read the play beautifully and intercepted an inside pass to go all of 60m to score.
Beauden Barrett was relieved of the kicking duties, and Jordie had no problem slotting both touchline conversions for a 14-0 lead.
And when Barrett Snr won a footrace to the tryline, it looked as though the floodgates had opened and the Reds were in for a hammering. But Barrett’s try was disallowed, and to add insult to injury they were reduced to 14 men as the TMO spotted foul play in the build-up.
That sparked the Reds into action, with Scott Higginbotham setting up one try and scoring another as they went into the break trailing 14-12.
The second half was a frenetic, action-packed affair with the Canes outscoring the Reds 20-3.
An early try pushed the Canes out to a 19-12 lead, but the Reds' resistance on defence and brilliant work at the breakdown kept on frustrating the visitors.
It took a 15-point haul in the last 10 minutes from Jordie (via a self-converted try and a penalty) and a late try by Beauden to put the visitors out of reach.
Reds – Tries: Chris Kuridrani, Scott Higginbotham. Conversion: Jake McIntyre. Penalty: McIntyre.
Hurricanes – Tries: Julian Savea, TJ Perenara, Vince Aso, Jordie Barrett, Beauden Barrett. Conversions: Jordie Barrett (3). Penalty: Barrett.
Reds – 15 Karmichael Hunt, 14 Chris Kuridrani, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Duncan Paia’aua, 11 Eto Nabuli, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 James Tuttle, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 George Smith, 6 Adam Korczyk, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Markus Vanzati.
Subs: 16 Andrew Ready, 17 Kirwan Sanday, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Lukhan Tui, 20 Hendrik Tui, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Hamish Stewart, 23 Izaia Perese.
Hurricanes – 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Vince Aso, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara (c), 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Callum Gibbins, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Michael Fatialofa 4 Mark Abbott, 3 Jeffery To’omaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Chris Eves.
Subs: 16 Leni Apisai, 17 Ben May, 18 Mike Kainga, 19 Sam Lousi, 20 Reed Prinsep, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Otere Black, 23 Pita Ahki.
Photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
