Rebels unsurprised by Canes smashing

The Rebels were brought down to earth with a bang and it wasn’t much of a surprise for them.

The Hurricanes continued Australia’s misery against New Zealand teams, with yet another big win in trans-Tasman contests.

The Hurricanes hammered the Australian conference leaders, the Rebels, 50-19 in Melbourne for their 11th straight win over Australian opposition – also stretching New Zealand’s winning run over Australian teams to 33 games stemming back to 2016.

The Wellington-based franchise posted 42 unanswered points with wing Ben Lam scoring four tries after trailing the Rebels 19-8 late in the first half.

It was the most points the Hurricanes have scored in a match in Australia.

“We knew what was coming,” Rebels captain Adam Coleman said.

“We knew they came with high line speed and they’re tight throughout the field, so we knew we had to put our heads down and do some tough carries.

“Sometimes I thought we tried to push the pass a bit instead of tightening up and putting our heads down.

“I’m really proud of how the boys started the game, but we were just missing that intensity in the second-half.

“We’ll look to rectify that [against the Jaguares at home, after next week’s bye week].”

Rebels coach Dave Wessels had a different view, suggesting there are “a lot of positives” to take out of his team’s heavy defeat.

Despite the result, Wessels saw the game as a learning experience for his relatively new team, and a chance to study one of the best teams in the competition.

“There’s a lot of positives for me,” Wessels said post-match.

“The game was an opportunity for us to set a marker. The Hurricanes are the most dominant team in Super Rugby over the last couple of years.

“I thought in that first half, we played some really good rugby. [But] we lost the game because they controlled the field better.

“Probably in previous weeks, we may have gotten away with things like that. But against a team like the Hurricanes, you don’t get away with [it].

“That’s a really good lesson for us.”

@rugby365