Rugby: Hurricanes skipper rues lost chances

Matt Giteau and Christian Lealiifano of the Brumbies celebrate after beating the Hurricanes. Photo / Getty Images

With South Africa's 2007 World Cup mastermind Jake White possibly waiting in the wings, Brumbies coach Tony Rea was understandably relieved to record his first Super rugby victory against the hapless Hurricanes last night.

Rea, who replaced Andy Friend just two games into the season, may only prove to be a caretaker in the role but if the appointment is temporary he at least derived some satisfaction from a 17-16 victory at Canberra Stadium that ended a five-match losing streak.

Perhaps wisely Rea deflected the praise towards a squad where "player power" reputedly rules.

"There's a lot of pressure on these blokes at the moment," he said after watching the Brumbies overcome a 16-11 deficit with a composed final quarter.

"It's a lot to carry out there, what's happened over the last month in terms of results but they've just got tighter and tighter and kept hanging in there," he told Fox Sports.

Friend was jettisoned after a second round loss to the Melbourne Rebels and since then his promoted assistant has presided over defeats to the Reds, Crusaders, Waratahs and Highlanders.

The win improves the Brumbies to 10th, eight points outside the top six.

"We had to be tough and had to get a bit of an ugly job done," Rea said.

"I'm just delighted for the guys. They've stayed tight, they've been working hard, listening hard and doing everything they need to do. We were very good under pressure."

Unfortunately for Rea's counterpart Mark Hammett the Hurricanes were again guilty of letting a winnable game slip as their discipline deteriorated during the later stages when the game was in the balance.

Matt Giteau's fourth penalty proved the difference when halfback Josh Valentine cannily passed into a retreating opponent to earn a three-pointer.

While that infringement was unfortunate they were heavily penalised at the breakdown, an area they dominated in the opening spell.

A failure to take advantage of periods of territorial dominance was another hallmark of a defeat which leaves the Hurricanes at the bottom of the New Zealand conference and 12th overall - a massive 17 points adrift of the table-topping Crusaders.

The Hurricanes began encouragingly but still had to rely on an Aaron Cruden charge down to produce their only try in the fourth minute - another poor return from a backline featuring Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Hosea Gear.

"We started fairly well but with all that ball we need more points," lamented Hurricanes captain Andrew Hore.

"We're making line breaks but we're succeeding in making our rugby pretty hard at the moment.

"We need to build pressure when you get into the 22, we're trying to score straight away."

Without a win since round four against the Chiefs the Hurricanes are already in danger of missing the top six before they face a tough road trip to the Cheetahs and Sharks.

"The big ask for us is to get over to Africa and start playing some rugby," Hore said.

Loose forward Victor Vito said the defeat was frustrating but the squad had to stay positive.

"It's something we have to grow from. If you put your head down, there's no coming back," he said.

"It could have gone either way. We'd get some good go forward we spin it out and all of a sudden we've lost the ball somehow or we're finding ourselves marching back ten (metres)."

Goal kicking hero Giteau was also relieved the Brumbies got back on track and remained two points behind the third-placed Rebels in the Australian conference after the newcomers had this weekend off.

"It was a really pleasing effort," Giteau said.

"We ground out a good win. The boys have put in so much work for not too much reward over the last few weeks."

- NZPA