Rugby: Cruden secures victory on last kick

Scott Higginbotham of the Reds scores a try with James Broardhurst of the Hurricanes in defence. Photo / Getty Images

Hurricanes 28
Reds 26

Never mind that Aaron Cruden missed a bucket-load of kicks - he nailed the one that mattered.

On the hooter, the pressure almost unbearable, Cruden so wobbly and inaccurate with his boot in the previous 79 minutes, sunk a 40-metre penalty to clinch the win.

It was a win the Hurricanes will scarcely believe they managed to secure. They had this game in their grasp at half-time, and just needed to put it in their pocket and walk off.

Somehow, after a glorious first half, they slowly fell apart. They let mistakes back into their game. They lost focus and let the Reds back in. It appeared all over when the Reds led 26-25 in the final minute. Then a Hosea Gear break and a quick recycle led to the penalty and Cruden's heroic kick.

The visitors did their bit to assist their comeback - Luke Morahan scoring a contender for try of the season when he took an inside pass from Quade Cooper and then ran through most of the Hurricanes' backline.

Yet they would have been surprised at how easily the Hurricanes gave it all up. If only they could have maintained their form for just 20 minutes longer than they did; that would have been enough to have nailed the win much earlier.

In those first 40 minutes they looked like the Hurricanes team we all imagined they would be.

The hesitation was gone. The silly errors were virtually cut out and instead of hoping someone else would do it for them, every individual got stuck in and pulled their weight.

Cruden gave a timely reminder that with ball in hand he's one of the better running first fives in the country. He played his natural game, the confidence returning to allow him to get closer to the gain line and challenge the defence. The Reds had little idea how to close him down and if Cruden wasn't carving holes himself he was throwing out flat passes for others.

Charlie Ngatai and Jayden Hayward settled well and did enough to believe there could be a future for the franchise when Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith are no longer around. Their handling was sharp and brought Hosea Gear into the game with the big All Black wing starting to crank into ominous form.

He was never taken by the first tackler and if the four first half tries are traced back, Gear will be able to show involvement in all of them.

Some of that fluidity was lost in the final quarter after Ngatai was stretchered off with what appeared to be a serious leg injury.

After Cruden scored the Hurricanes' second try when he looked up, saw he was being marked by two heavies and stepped on the accelerator, he looked a lot like the 2010 version of himself.

Still, before anyone gets too excited, his goal-kicking was poor - apart from the last one - and it's his technical execution that needs to show the biggest improvement if he's to make it back to the test arena.

He lost much of his edge in the second half. The Reds were clawing their way back into the contest and slowly building the pressure. The closer they got on the scoreboard, the more the Hurricanes allowed their discipline to wobble.

Hurricanes 28 (A. Cruden, N. Tialata, F. Levave, A. Taylor tries; A. Cruden con, 2 pens), Reds 26 (L. Morahan 2, S. Higginbotham tries; Q. Cooper con, 3 pens).