Hurricanes expose gaps in defence

The usual suspects powered past some suspect defence as the Hurricanes crushed the Chiefs in a Super 12 trial game at Pukekohe last night.

The Hurricanes, who won 59-14, used a full-strength squad while the Chiefs had a host of defections and played like it in a typically helter-skelter warm-up match.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Hurricanes piled on second-quarter tries as they gave centre Alan Bunting - a member of the Chiefs' wider training group - a nightmare time on defence.

Missed tackles by BoP back Bunting, with Ma'a Nonu in particular enjoying the soft ride, led directly to three of the four Hurricanes tries, which gave them a 26-7 halftime lead.

The Chiefs rallied after halftime, with the arrival of Steven Bates - for an ineffective Sione Lauaki - helping stop the rot for a while.

And fellow replacement Scott Linklater's try brought the score back to 26-14 during this brief phase of promise for the home side.

But the Hurricanes pulled away again with more dreadful defence helping front-rowers Joe McDonnell and Joe Ward charge over for tries, for a 40-14 lead. They dominated from there on.

The Chiefs were missing stars such as Jono Gibbes and Byron Kelleher and their long-term injured players Keith Robinson, Tom Willis and Sitiveni Sivivatu.

Nonu had a powerful game for the Hurricanes - he is just the man to run riot when an opposing side are not at the top of their game. He scored three tries.

All Black captain Tana Umaga came on at the start of the second half, playing at second five-eighths inside Conrad Smith, with Nonu shifting to the wing. Umaga immediately made his presence felt with a half bust and pass to set up Jimmy Gopperth.