Rugby: Canes winger scores hattrick on debut

Hurricanes winger Kobus Van Wyk dashes in for the first of his three tries. Photo / Paul Taylor

South African winger Kobus Van Wyk grabbed a hattrick on debut for the Hurricanes in tonight's 62-15 Super Rugby win over the Sunwolves in Napier.

The 28-year-old former Sharks and Stormers player impressed in all aspects of play in front of a crowd of 10,300 at McLean Park.

A lack of Hurricanes defenders on the inside channel allowed Sunwolves lock Michael Stolberg to open the scoring with a third minute try. First five-eighth Junpei Ogura converted.

The Hurricanes opened their account when South African winger Kobus Van Wyk scored a try with his first touch of the ball in the 11th minute. This was his first try for the Canes in Super Rugby and first five-eighth Fletcher Smith converted.

Ogura put the Sunwolves ahead again with a handy penalty attempt in the 16th minute.
Two minutes later the Canes were back in front courtesy of a try to fullback Chase Tiatia off a set play. Fletcher again converted and the hots led 14-10.

Tiatia had his second try in the 24th minute and Smith again added the extras. Van Wyk scored his second in the 28th minute after a blindside dab from captain and halfback TJ Perenara. Smith converted from out wide.

The Hurricanes 28-10 lead at the interval was a fair reflection of an entertaining first spell.
The second half was less than a minute old when Canes winger Ben Lam crashed through Sunwolves fullback Alex Horan to score. The son of Wallabies legend Tim Horan was making his debut for the tourists.

Further tries to Perenara and Magpies No 8 Gareth Evans in the 42nd and 45th minutes respectively, Smith converted Evans, had the Canes ahead 45-10.

The Sunwolves did well to keep the Canes out for 10 minutes before Van Wyk completed his hattrick in the 55th minute. Six minutes later second five-eighth Ngani Laumape, who had set up several tries earlier, burst away for one. Tiatia slotted the conversion.

The tourists refused to say die and were rewarded for this approach when winger Siosaia Fifita scored in the 65th minute.

Another of the Canes creators earlier in the match, centre Vince Aso, scored in the 76th minute.

For the Canes it was the ideal way to come back after the bye week and an ideal rehearsal before their next outing against the Blues. As expected there were numerous contenders for player of the match but Aso snuck in for the award.

His combination with Laumape was classy and he finished the match with 13 runs, 126 running metres, two line breaks and six broken tackles. Evans had a cracker in front of his home crowd and fellow Magpies, loosie Devan Flanders, prop Ben May and lock Isaia Walker-Leawere, did everything expected of them when given the opportunity off the pine.
Scorers:
Hurricanes 62 (Kobus Van Wyk3, Chase Tiatia 2, Ben Lam, TJ Perenara, Gareth Evans, Ngani Laumape, Vince Aso tries; Fletcher Smith 5, Tiatia cons ), Sunwolves 15 (Michael Stolberg, Siosaia Fifita tries; Junpei Ogura con, pen). HT: 28-10.