"Devan is going well for us. Danny [Magpies second five-eighth Toala] had a strong game for our 20s in the curtainraiser and from what I hear our Magpies Wider Training Group squad went well against Auckland earlier today so it was a great day for the Bay," Evans added.
The Sunwolves deserve praise for their promising start to the match. 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 the11th minute. By the end of the match he will have scored three in a memorable debut for the hosts. 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. By this point it was obvious the Canes were going to post a comfortable ninth win from 12 encounters in Napier. 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 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.
Match highlights:
Heartstopper: There were several but Hurricanes winger Kobus Van Wyk's tackle on Sunwolves fullback Alex Horan in the 21st minute was a beauty.
Turning point: When Hurricanes fullback Chase Tiatia scored his second try in the 24th minute to give the hosts a 21-10 lead. The Sunwolves defence was already too flimsy and their faint hopes of an upset were dashed.
Player of the match: Numerous contenders but centre Vince Aso snuck in with 13 runs, 126 running metres, two line breaks, six broken tackles and a well deserved final try of the match.
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.