Even before they set foot on the turf in Wellington for the 45-22 win over the Melbourne Rebels on Saturday night, any plans for the game were thrown out the window.
The Hurricanes were forced to withdraw Dane Coles, Asafo Aumua, Salesi Rayasi, Wes Goosen and Jamie Booth all due to non-Covid-19 related illness, forcing a major reshuffle in their ranks.
You wouldn't have guessed the side were without their two top hookers though. James O'Reilly was terrific at the set piece in the starting role, while Siua Maile was strong off the bench and bagged his first Super Rugby try.
There was plenty to like in the Hurricanes performance, but the second half could have been a lot cleaner.
Both sides saw plenty of space in front of them in the second 40, and did all they could to exploit it. The ball was moving freely through the hands, and that often led to errors and turnovers. When it looked like one team was about to go on a meaningful attack, the other would be in possession a moment later, while both sides were guilty of ill-discipline throughout the contest.
The Hurricanes got the better of this brand of play, with their counter-attack doing plenty of damage to keep their hopes of a home quarter-final alive.
James Blackwell crosses for the Hurricanes during their clash with the Rebels. Photo / Getty
After the Chiefs claimed a bonus-point win earlier in the day, the Hurricanes needed to follow suit in order to give themselves the best chance of moving into fourth on the ladder in the final round.
They got off to an excellent start, playing the game at the right end of the field and capitalising with two well-worked set piece tries, swinging the ball away from the back of the lineout for tries to Julian Savea and Billy Proctor.
For a Rebels team who have leaked points like a sieve this season, it looked like they were going to have the same issues again, and their hopes weren't helped by Reece Hodge leaving the pitch due to injury inside the opening 10 minutes.
To be fair, his replacement Lukas Ripley was impressive and took every opportunity afforded to him – bagging all three of his side's tries.
But the Hurricanes attack fired when the Rebels gave them an invitation to do so. Tries from close range through Blake Gibson, James Blackwell, Maile and Jordie Barrett did most of the damage, before Aidan Morgan scooped up a loose Rebels pass to run and score untouched - summing up, and closing out, the match.
The Hurricanes will now make the long trip to Perth for a date with the Western Force to end their regular season campaign, heading into the final round three points behind the fourth-placed Chiefs.
Hurricanes 45 (Julian Savea, Billy Proctor, Blake Gibson, James Blackwell, Siua Maile, Jordie Barrett, Aidan Morgan tries; Barrett 5 cons) Rebels 22 (Lukas Ripley 3 tries; Matt To'omua 2 cons, pen) HT: 26-8
