Chase Tiatia and Kobus van Wyk combined for five of the Hurricanes' 10 tries against the Sunwolves. Photo / Getty Images
Hurricanes 62
Sunwolves 15
Heading into the Hurricanes' clash against the Sunwolves in Napier, Kobus van Wyk was not a household name to local fans.
In the space of 80 minutes, the South African winger made sure he changed that.
In his first start with the Hurricanes, the former Sharks and Stormers player showed his finishing prowess, scoring a hat-trick in the 62-15 win.
Van Wyk was one of a number of backs who played starring roles in the win, with midfielders Vince Aso and Ngani Laumape running with devastating impact and creating plenty of opportunities, while fullback Chase Tiatia took his chances and scored two tries of his own.
"This week we had a mindset of making sure we were being clinical everywhere," Aso said.
"It's these types of games that if we muck around and don't stick to our gameplan it can go 50/50, but today the boys did their jobs."
The Sunwolves started the game well, with a Fletcher Smith error from the opening kick-off allowing the visitors to get into good field position before hulking lock Mike Stolberg raced away from 20 metres out to open the scoring.
Leading 7-0 inside of five minutes, it looked like the visitors might pose the same sort of questions they did to the Rebels in week one. But when van Wyk went over in the corner after the Hurricanes backline had its way with the Sunwolves defence, that notion went out the window.
Instead, the remaining 75 minutes played out much like a Hurricanes training run. With the backs having little trouble breaking the line, the hosts were constantly threatening the Sunwolves' defence, with the 28-10 halftime lead not a fair reflection of their domination.
They righted that in the second half, with Ben Lam scoring inside a minute of the restart and starting an onslaught of points from the Hurricanes. Lam's was one of six tries the hosts scored in the second half, running in 10 total.
After winning their opening game against the Rebels to give their final campaign in the competition some early promise, today's defeat was the second time in as many weeks that the Sunwolves have conceded 10 tries and 60 points.
For the Hurricanes, it appears they've put their early season struggles far behind them. Even without the likes of Jordie Barrett and Dane Coles, and incumbent winger Wes Goosen relegated to a bench role, they looked like a team who have been playing together for a long time, which will give them plenty of confidence heading into a derby match against the Blues in Wellington next week.
With the Blues, Chiefs and Crusaders waiting on the horizon, Aso said there was plenty the team could take out of today's win.
"Our tempo, keeping engaged through the whole 80, making sure we're clinical in all areas – attack and defence as well. It's going to be a tough three weeks but we're up for it."
Hurricanes 62 (Kobus van Wyk 3, Chase Tiatia 2, Ben Lam, TJ Perenara, Gareth Evans, Ngani Laumape, Vince Aso tries; Fletcher Smith 6 cons)
Sunwolves 15 (Mike Stolberg, Siosaia Fifita tries; Jumpei Ogura con, pen)
HT: 28-10
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