Super Rugby Aotearoa: Hurricanes player ratings vs Crusaders
On a wet Sunday afternoon in Wellington, the Hurricanes played host to the Crusaders in the second round of Super Rugby Aotearoa. Both sides entered the match without a win to their names (the Hurricanes lost to the Blues in the first week while the Crusaders had a first-round bye) so there was plenty of motivation for players on both sides of the pitch.
The Crusaders took an early lead through Sevu Reece and scored plenty of tries on the night while the Hurricanes kept themselves in the hunt for most of the encounter thanks to the boot of Jackson Garden-Bachop. In the end, the Crusaders’ try-scoring prowess was simply too much for the home side, with the visitors winning 39-25.
How did the Hurricanes players rate?
1. Fraser Armstrong – 7/10
Handled himself well in the set-piece and defended stoutly.
2. Dane Coles – 5.5
The Hurricanes needed more from him. The lineout wasn’t functioning that well and he didn’t bring his abrasive game. Was a tad quiet. When his team had a penalty in front of the Crusaders’ sticks and the call was for points not a scrum, you got the sense that the Hurricanes were mentally shot. Not his best day out.
3. Tyrel Lomax – 7
Credible performance against one of the greatest loose heads to play the game. Worked in the tight and didn’t shirk it.
4. James Blackwell – 8.5
Quite possibly the man of the match. Did he ever stop working? Carried strong and stole a lineout or two. Hard to comprehend where the Hurricanes would be without this workhorse. He had a defensive misread that did not lead to a try but outside of that was all ticker. Well played, that man.
5. Vaea Fifita – 4
Rubbish match. He is capable of so much more but his body height was poor into contact as was his technique. Will need to work hard to justify selection next week.
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6. Reed Prinsep – 6
Worked hard in defence but didn’t really bring much in possession. He’s an intelligent player but was guilty of being lateral when coming around the corner, and being too deep when taking the ball. Needs to square up and flatten up when taking on the line.
7. Du’Plessis Kirifi – 8
Big effort and defensively the best Hurricane on the park, making 11 tackles. He copped the odd harsh call from the referee at the breakdown but that still did not deter him from him imposing himself in that space.
8. Ardie Savea – 6.5
Worked his way into the match but looked short of a run as he didn’t dominate as he has in seasons past. Would have liked him to work off Blackwell more but still expect he and Kirifi to blend well in the near future.
9. TJ Perenara – 7.5
Very solid performance by the All Blacks scrum half. Even when he made the odd error, he was the first to look to fix his own mistake. Made a try saving intercept which typified his ability to read an attack. Had a period of time off the park due to a head injury assessment but returned to the fray with all of his class.
10. Jackson Garden-Bachop – 7.5
Good day out but cost his side a certain 7 points after failing to pop to Ngani Laumape on his right after making a wonderful break himself. Laumape was clear for the line under the black dot but it wasn’t too be. Needs to trust his own running game further as the Hurricanes looked better when he took on the line.
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11. Ben Lam – 5.5
Poor on defence. Crusaders scored twice down his edge early in the match and the big man had defensive misreads that should not be excused at this level. Furthermore, in attack needs to square the hips and hit the space at pace. Ran too laterally but did actually clean out well at times, to his credit.
12. Ngani Laumape – 6.5
Run the ball, son. That’s what your good at, that’s what you should do. When Laumape is part of an unnecessarily complex attack, he loses clarity and sometimes makes basic errors – as we saw early in the first half. Play him flat and play him hard at the line. Worked well to put Asafo Aumua over for his try.
13. Vince Aso – 6
Made two damaging attacks but undid the good work with kicks instead of looking for his support. His own performance typified that of the Hurricanes, strength and stupidity in the blink of an eye. He has better rugby in him and needs to straighten the attack and move the ball while backing up on the inside as opposed to running his attack to the edge and suffocating opportunity.
14. Wes Goosen – 6.5
A dependable performance. Doesn’t give his opponent much, chased his kicks and made most of his tackles. Had limited opportunity in attack and probably needed to look for a little more work. However, was part of a backline that appears unsure of what it’s trying to do.
15. Chase Titia – 6.5
Immensely talented, has shades of Andre Taylor about him. Had moments of brilliance but there were moments he looked lost in defence and needed to communicate better with his wingers. He will get better with greater exposure at this level.
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Reserves:
16. Asafo Aumua – 6.5
Scored a very good try late in the match to keep his side in the match. Needed to look for work closer in where his physicality is best used.
17. Ben May – 5
Worked hard to lift the tempo but was caught out on a lazy defensive read late in the match allowing David Havili to cross the paint untouched. A player of his experience should have done better. Not a great day out for him.
18. Alex Fidow – 5
Didn’t have much of an impact.
19. Scott Scrafton – 5
Should get a run next week for Fifita. Made a few tackles and won a lineout or two in his cameo.
20. Gareth Evans – 5.5
The Hurricanes missed what he can bring right from the start.
21. Jamie Booth – 6.5
Very handy performance when Perenara was off. Brought the energy and straightened the attack. Hurricanes have a ready-made replacement for their co-captain.
22. Billy Proctor – 5
Needed to make more of an impact.
23. Kobus van Wyk – 3
Made some very very costly errors.
Comments on RugbyPass
I think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to comments