Hurricanes blow gently

On the face of it, the Hurricanes are doing everything right. Three wins on the road and back home to the Cake Tin to greet the Bulls next week. They beat the Sharks more comfortably than the scoreline suggests but there were enough little wrinkles to have more of them than just Ma'a Nonu reaching for the face cream.

Watching them struggle against the Sharks at the outset of the match, it was impossible not to reflect that they haven't beaten a team of note yet. What will happen against the Brumbies, Blues and Crusaders?

That thought took firmer root when the Sharks began strongly. Their lineout and scrum were working so well that the Hurricanes were pinned in their half, resembling a pack of seals on a rock with a school of great white sharks circling. The Sharks also shunted big Butch James out to second five-eighths to accommodate Herkie Kruger, back after a two-year ban at first five-eighths, and Kruger made a strong start to the match, taking a smart drop goal and kicking well from general play.

They were 6-0 up when they should have put themselves in a near unassailable position. Nonu spilled a Kruger bomb in goal but Sharks centre Adrian Jacobs knocked on with a try certain. Then winger Henno Mentz knocked on with the Hurricanes' goal-line positively pleading to be crossed.

After that, the Sharks finished the job of pulling their own teeth when Eduard Coetzee was yellow carded for stomping, followed by ball-winning lock Albert van den Berg being injured. He was trailed into the dugout by brilliant fullback Brent Russell and halfback Craig Davidson, also suffering with match-ending injuries.

It began to dawn on the Hurricanes that they might be able to wrest back the initiative and they set about doing so. In the forwards, Jerry Collins had a strong match and lock Ross Kennedy and hooker Andrew Hore did some yeoman work in the tight stuff.

Young first five-eighths Jimmy Gopperth continued to demonstrate, with 24 points, that he has made himself a key member of the team after just three games. His almost unblemished goal-kicking took advantage of the Sharks' infringements and his general play was consistently sound.

The Hurricanes opted to graft their way to a 9-9 scoreline at halftime. They crunched up the fringes, with openside flanker Ben Herring snaffling ball and making a nuisance of himself in the dark recesses of the rucks and mauls.

It wasn't until 18 minutes into the second half that the Hurricanes finally broke free. Herring scored after sustained forward pressure and good work by Collins and Kennedy and, when the ball was recycled, Riki Flutey saw Herring waving his arms frantically on the wing, unmarked in a space approximately as big as Kruger National Park. The kick was a bit skew-whiff but little Herring took the catch.

A few minutes later, the best try of the game - and the one which ended the match - went to Gopperth who scooted into a gap made by Tana Umaga and with contributions from Nonu and Conrad Smith. At 29-9 up, there was nothing more certain than the Hurricanes would relax and allow the Sharks back into the game - which they did.

Mentz reeled off a 55m sprint to score (although Umaga looked suspiciously obstructed) and Gopperth made a rare mistake when he popped a pass into the arms of Jacobs who managed to accept this offering.

The Hurricanes held out but the manner of their start and finish again begs the question of how they will fare against opposition who do not let them off hooks quite so easily.

They don't play the Brumbies, Blues and Crusaders until the last weeks of the round-robin competition and, if they start to play like they did in the middle of this game, they might have a finals spot sewn up by then.

Sharks 23 (H.Mentz, A.Jacobs tries; H.Kruger drop goal; B. James 2 cons, 2 pens). Hurricanes 29 (B. Herring, J. Gopperth tries; Gopperth 2 cons, 5 pens).

Super 12 rugby

Sharks 23

Hurricanes 29