Rugby: Hurricanes open season with win

Warren Whiteley of the Lions attacks the Hurricanes defense. Photo / Getty Images

HURRICANES 22 LIONS 8

Starved of possession and forced to make countless tackles, the Hurricanes had no business beating the Lions.

But Chris Boyd's side won't worry about the statistics from the contest because the only numbers that mattered today were the ones that made up the final score of 22-8.

The Hurricanes have been notoriously slow starters to Super Rugby in recent years but they bucked that trend in Johannesburg as Boyd was provided with a boost in his coaching confidence.

He may never have expressed it publicly but last year's awful ITM Cup campaign with Wellington must have dented his pride and he would have taken joy from this victory in his first game as a head honcho in Super Rugby.

The Hurricanes spent a strong majority of the first 35 minutes inside their own half as they were forced to make tackle after tackle. They only coughed up one try, to wing Ruan Combrinck, and showed desperation when they needed to.

HURRICANES v LIONS MATCH CENTRE

Discipline, so often an issue for the Hurricanes, continued to cause them problems as they gave away numerous penalties. This should have worked against the visitors but Lions first-five Marnitz Boshoff, usually a reliable kicker, missed three penalty attempts during the first spell.

Against the run of play, the Hurricanes showed what they could do with the ball when TJ Perenara scored with only a few minutes left in the opening half, which added to a couple of earlier penalties from first-five Beauden Barrett.

Boshoff finally broke his lean patch as he booted three points in the 40th minute but the Hurricanes still took an unlikely 11-8 lead to the break.

Maybe it was Boshoff's inaccurate boot or a misguided belief in their own abilities but the Lions regularly turned down further penalty attempts throughout the game as they kicked for the line and tried to put pressure on the Hurricanes.

"We didn't have much possession but we worked hard on our defence in the off-season and the boys dug deep and it paid off," Hurricanes openside flanker Ardie Savea said. "In the end, we stopped a few tries so we are quite happy with that."

It was a testament to the Hurricanes that their defence held on so well, while their conditioning seemed up to the mark. The Lions also did themselves few favours as their handling was poor.

"We talked about it as a team to always do it for each other and we always fight to the end and the boys did that," Savea said. "We are certainly proud of the way we defended our line throughout the whole game."

Hurricanes second-five Rey Lee-Lo, filling in for Ma'a Nonu who was on baby duty, made a decent fist of his return to the franchise with a resolute display in the midfield and was named man of the match.

The Hurricanes forwards put in a big shift and they still had enough in the tank - aided by some spirited subs - to force a tighthead in the dying stages as replacement back Matt Proctor scored a try on the hooter.

The Hurricanes head to Pretoria next week to meet the Bulls.

Hurricanes 22 (TJ Perenara, Matt Proctor tries; Beauden Barrett 4 pen) Lions 8 (Ruan Combrinck try, Marnitz Boshoff pen) halftime: 11-8

MATCH STATS