Brett Cameron kicked the Hurricanes to victory against the Chiefs. Photo / Getty Images
Hurricanes 20
Chiefs 17
When two legitimate title contenders clash in the final stages of a regular season, there’s the risk that the meeting doesn’t quite meet expectations.
There were no such concerns when the Chiefs and Hurricanes battled in Hamilton on Friday night.
In a game where momentum swung like a pendulum, the Hurricanes triumphed in front of a sold-out crowd, walking away with a 20-17 win.
With both sides locked into a top-four spot, it was a sign of things to come when the competition comes to the business end. It was physical, fast, plenty of skill was on display and it constantly felt like one big play could ultimately prove decisive.
That moment came in the 79th minute when Chiefs captain Luke Jacobson was penalised for not rolling away after a dominant tackle on Jordie Barrett. It appeared Jacobson had been pinned in after landing on top of Barrett after the tackle and couldn’t go anywhere, but it gave Brett Cameron a shot from 41m out to win it and the recently resigned No 10 made no mistakes.
It closed out a game where there were impressive performances across the park. Hurricanes midfield duo Barrett and Billy Proctor were again in the thick of things for their side, Xavier Numia – who scored the first try of the night with an impressive solo effort – showed his X-factor alongside a solid night at the set piece, while Cameron and Peter Lakai continued their solid campaigns.
For the Chiefs, Emoni Narawa impressed on both sides of the ball, with some strong defensive moments against his opposite Kini Naholo. Anton Lienert-Brown followed suit with one of his best performances of the season, while Jacobson defended with intent, and Aidan Ross, Samisoni Taukei’aho and George Dyer put in busy shifts.
It might have been one that got away from the hosts ultimately, as they couldn’t capitalise on the Hurricanes spending 30 minutes of the match with a man off the field.
Raymond Tuputupu had his seventh-minute yellow card upgraded to a red for a high shot on Tupou Vaa’i – Vaa’i significantly lowering his body height into contact was not enough to mitigate the contact – while Naholo was sin-binned for being offside at the ruck in the 58th minute. The Chiefs spent 10 minutes with a man off the pitch themselves, with Kaylum Boshier taking a seat for a cynical foul after being ruled to have intentionally attempted to wrap his leg around T.J. Perenara at the ruck.
It was the Hurricanes who opened the scoring however, with Numia charging onto a short ball from Lakai to run about 30m and power over the line in the 19th minute. Barrett went over off a slick lineout move from distance after 33 minutes, and the Hurricanes held a 14-0 lead at the break.
For much of the first half, the Chiefs found themselves defending or working the ball out of their own end, but that changed immediately in the first half as they scored through Narawa less than a minute after play restarted.
While a Cameron penalty extended the lead, some smart work from Wallace Sititi off the back of a halted lineout drive allowed him to beat a couple of defenders to score, and a Damian McKenzie penalty levelled things up.
Ultimately, it came down to Cameron’s boot; his penalty sending the Hurricanes back to the top of the ladder – at least until the Blues’ clash against the Crusaders.
Hurricanes 20 (Xavier Numia, Jordie Barrett tries; Brett Cameron 2 cons, 2 pen)
Chiefs 17 (Emoni Narawa, Wallace Sititi tries; Damian McKenzie 2 cons, pen)
HT: 14-0
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
The serial winner returns to the Chiefs after a stint away.