Hurricanes (5) 14 / 21 (13) Highlanders (Final Score)
The Hurricanes and Highlanders did battle in the 2015 Super Rugby Final at
Westpac Stadium, Wellington at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 17:35 AEST, 07:35 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
*******************
Scorers:
Hurricanes:
- Penalties – Beauden Barrett (3)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Ma’a Nonu (1)
- Conversions – 0
Highlanders:
- Penalties – Lima Sopoaga (2)
- Drop Goals – Marty Banks (1)
- Tries – Elliot Dixon (1), Waisake Naholo (1)
- Conversions – Lima Sopoaga (1)
Teams:
Hurricanes |
Highlanders |
| 4 July at 09:35 SA Time | |
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Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Craig Joubert (South Africa)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Ten Positives to come out of losing to The Highlanders: (from a Hurricanes point of view, based on the David Letterman formula).
1. We didn’t lose to an Aussie Mob.
2. We didn’t lose to a Saffa Outfit.
3.We might be THE BIGGEST LOSERS in NZ………………………………………..But we are not the BIGGEST LOSERS in SANZAR.
4.We are Only THE EQUALLY BIGGEST LOSERS in SANZAR, along with The Force, The Rebs, da Cheats, Leo’s, Sharkies and Storm Boys.
5. There is always next year.
6. Or the years after that.
7.Lima Sopoaga is a Wellingtonian.
8. It’s only a game after all.
9. A loss keeps you humble,……………………………….and the humble shall inherit the earth.. (or is that the meek)……whatever……. it is good to be humble. 😉
10. The Highlanders were the best Team to lose a Final to. They played positive attacking rugby for the whole season. The Referee, Little Jaco Peyper was just great. As were most of the Officials…………………………….. 99% of the match.
10.
@ grootblousmile:
At the end of the day Groot…………………………………….it was a hair line decision.
As I said, in real time, it looked a try.
Without frame by frame slow mo………………………….I would agree with you.
@ cane:
Hard luck Cane….was rooting for your boys, and for you in particular.
Watched the game with Fern and we were also at a disagreement about THAT try….he called it a try, and I, like yourself, thought he had downward pressure when he placed it on the defenders foot, but didn’t have control when it touched the turf.
The fact that the TMO called it a try doesn’t necessarily make it the right decision, how many incorrect calls have we seen by TMO’s throughout this competition alone?
@ nortie:
Fernly ……………………………………….another Saint/Sinner from Voldy.
Up at the dam were you?
Thanks a million Naughty.
I think the Highlanders might just have deserved it. ………………………….. By 3 %.
We lost, but we couldn’t have lost to more deserving Team, (In my Humble opinion).
274 @ cane:
Couldn’t agree more….I must add that the skill and power displayed in that move was deserving of a try….and yes, the Landers on the day was just little bit better.
Small margins at the end of the day
@ cane:
Not at the dam, he sold the place…..he came round to my place, and as a bonus he brought along a curry…..Fernly knows how to cook the perfect curry 😆
Geez these guys show us what they can do when you have all the skills, speed AND size.
Hard luck cane. Still a great season.
@ cane: you are a scholar and a gentleman Caner. What else can I say? Humble as always.
@ cane: which is not a bad thing Caner. I backed the Landers for one reason only. They were the underdogs. My heart went out to the Canes at the final whistle truth be told especially Conrad. They were the best team throughout the tournament and he is a top player/man signing off after a great career. That’s indisputable. I’d have been just as happy to have seen a Hurricanes win. There’s often no justice in sport.
@ cane:
Awww Cane…. feel for you….but we know… big games come down to on the day….
whenever I think of Otago…my mind goes back to 94 and poor David Latta… this definitely makes up for that…
Apart from not featuring in this year’s SR final, SA has had a very good sporting week/weekend overall.
In athletics: 2 sprinters (Akani Simbine & Enricho Bruintjies) broke through the 10 second barrier in the 100m, the latter setting a new SA record of 9.97s, while another (Wayde van Niekerk) became the 1st SA athlete to run faster than 44 seconds in the 400m, setting an African record on the way.
In gholf: Jaco van Zyl took a 2 shot lead into the last round of the French Open while The Goose managed to qualify for The Open at the ripe old age of 46.
In cricket: The Proteas convincingly beat Bangladesh in a T20 match.
In soccer: Bafana Bafana bet the Mighty Mauritius 2 – 0 in a CHAN qualifying match,winning 5 – 0 on aggregate.
In tennis: Kevin Anderson reached the 4th round at Wimbledon and is looking forward to his clash against Djoko in that round.
So, despite all the kak going on in our rugby, there is still reason to smile.
Oh yes.
In swimming: Chad le Clos is still collecting medals, this time in Barcelona.
In cycling: MTN-Qhubeka became the 1st team from Africa to take part in the Tour de France.
Sorry Jaco van Zyl. At least you;re going to St. Andrews. Reward for a good weekend.
The German, Wiesburger, wins the tournament by a whopping 3 shots after scoring a 65 in the last round.
Watching Senna, a documentary on Ayrten on SABC 3. Great documentary.
Watched it once before and moved my allegiance from The Professor (Alain Prost) to Senna after that.
“If I have a bad race, I look forward to the next one. Maybe it will be better…and the next five. I just have to get the numbers up.” – Ayrten Senna
Wise words. A guy like Dillon Leyds should take a similar approach and just ignore all the so called kenners who proclaimed that he has played his “last match as a professional” against the Brumbies.
Square peg, round hole
by Brendan Venter 01/07/2015, 17:50
On Saturday, Nick Mallett’s post-match comment that South African coaches should simply learn from the Hurricanes, reminded me of a conversation I had with a former teammate at London Irish.
Stephen Bachop, who had previously played at flyhalf for the Hurricanes, couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t want to replicate the strategy which has served the Wellington-based side so brilliantly.
The former All Black sat with us during one particular team meeting and said, “Boys, this is absurdly simple. What’s going on? Why don’t we just take the ball, I’ll stand nice and deep, like I always do, I will throw the ball wide on a skip – miss one or two players – and we can run the ball from there.”
My response to Stephen at the time was that while we could certainly try said tactical ploy, I didn’t know if it would work for us.
I said to him, I’m not sure if you realise but the Hurricanes’ back division consists of players such as Christian Cullen, Tana Umaga, Alama Ieremia and Jonah Lomu, whereas our backline features Brendan Venter, Conor O’Shea, Niall Woods, Mark McCall and Justin Bishop.
The point I was trying to make back then, and the one which I’m emphasising now is that it’s naïve to attempt to model your game on another team just because they have proved successful.
A coach has to play to the strengths of the personnel at his disposal. It would have been absurd for London Irish to attempt to emulate that backline ploy.
With due respect, we were not Cullen, Lomu and Umaga. Instead of making inroads, the opposition may well have knocked us behind the gain-line.
It’s similarly nonsensical for SA sides to copy and paste the current Hurricanes’ attacking approach.
When flyhalf Beauden Barrett passes the ball to the outside; Ma’a Nonu catches the pill and then plays Conrad Smith who, in turn, feeds it to a forward ranging Julian Savea or Nehe Milner-Skudder.
It’s undoubtedly impressive to behold and I understand why South Africans can get caught up in the moment, and want our teams to adopt a similar approach on attack.
However, the harsh reality is that not one of our sides has the strike power and skill to do so. We must escape cloud cuckoo land.
While a fair few in the Cape would argue Cheslin Kolbe, Juan de Jongh, Seabelo Senatla and Dillyn Leyds possess the necessary nous to play Hurricanes-style rugby, with all respect to the Stormers, there is no way you can realistically compare their back division to that of the Wellington-based side.
A MISCONCEPTION STORMERS INHIBITED BY STRUCTURE
The common misconception is that the likes of De Jongh, Kolbe and Senatla are being inhibited by structure.
If the new Stormers coach said, “Okay boys, just play what is front of you and have a go,” many believe the side would suddenly become a try-scoring machine, but that is simply unrealistic.
The development of a rugby player is a very long process and is forged over time like a vintage wine.
Trust me, the end product of a Conrad Smith, Milner-Skudder or Julian Savea, for argument’s sake, is not indicative of the way a Super Rugby coach coaches or owing to the freedom of play he affords.
Speaking of Super Rugby coaches, there are ostensibly four vacancies in a South African context which need to be filled. I include the Kings as they will return to an expanded competition in 2016.
I expect the Bulls’ Super Rugby head coaching position to be awarded to current Springbok assistant coach Johann van Graan. Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez will serve as more than able deputies.
As far as the Stormers are concerned, Allister Coetzee will be missed and Director of Rugby Gert Smal may actually end up filling the vacancy from within.
John Dobson and Matthew Proudfoot are two obvious candidates because I can’t see John Plumtree joining the Stormers. The Cape side would have to pay a fortune to extract the New Zealander from his two-year contract with the Hurricanes.
If Smal decides against promoting from within, Dawie Theron may be an option. The 48-year-old has done his apprenticeship at Griquas and the Junior Springboks, where he has proved very successful.
The Sharks are also hunting a Super Rugby coach for next season. While Director of Rugby Gary Gold will assume the head coaching position in the Currie Cup, I genuinely don’t believe it’s sustainable for him to fulfill the same role in Super Rugby.
Gary needs to sit down and fix the union’s junior structures, in particular, because none of the previous coaches wanted anything to do with that.
In the public domain, John Mitchell has been linked with the role as he resides in Durban. However, reality is he’s been asked to leave his previous three jobs and lost every single game in his final Super Rugby campaign with the Lions.
Moreover, he spent one season with the University of KwaZulu-Natal and failed to win the competition. Ryan Strudwick achieved the feat the following year.
The Sharks will take their time in finding a suitable Super Rugby coach because longevity is crucial.
Do you agree with Venter that South African sides should avoid the ‘copy and paste’ approach?
Share your views by posting your comments below…
Gosh I am so with Brendan on this one, it is so easy for people to jump on the Mallet bandwagon for some people, but the truth is it is just not sample to throw the ball around and play ball in hand rugby for our teams, because we dont have 100kg+ wings that can either run around or bump off players, it is so simple to get caught up with Mallet because he knows how to say what people want him to say.
If it is so easy to just copy the New Zealander’s Mallet should become a coach and show us.
I am over Mallet.
Nama wrote:
Good for you.
Senna was THE BEST.
He used to WIN races; Prost used to finish first…
288: Lees daar op supersport:
The Highlanders kicked the ball a whopping 31 times against 17 from the Hurricanes, they ran 438 metres against 711, they trailed in the carries count and made significantly more tackles, though not quite as many more by the final whistle as was the case in the first half.
Soos ek saterdag genoem het, as jy skop moet jy slim skop, as jy hardloop, moet jy slim hardloop. ‘n Kampioen span moet beide goed kan doen, nie net die een of die ander nie.
Barret kon nie sy span op die voorvoet hou nie, Landers se losskakel het hom ore aangesit, wat taktiese spel betref.
Die WB gaan nie gewen word deur bonuspunt driee nie.
Sien Duane is ook nou uit met nek operasie, so HM sit met ‘n half gekrokte span. Die een helfte is half beseer, die ander klomp oefen met krukkie en rolstoele.
Maar gelukkig is Spies nog daar om nou opgroep te word vir groter diens aan volk en vaderland !
Sal nou so kies,
Louw
Schalk
Whiteley
Hoop Jaco Kriel word opgeroep na die bokgroep in Duane se plek.
@ Ben-die-Bul:
Ek se dit nou al lank. Die ball in hand ding is stront. Mens MOET slim skop en die suksesvolle spanne in die wereld deesdae het 9s wat kan skop, hoewel hule nie altyd perfek skop nie, Aaron smith het net fdp se game gevat en verbeter daarop.
Sapoaga speel al die laaste twee jaar baie goed.
@ Ben-die-Bul:
Haha matfield is een van die min ouens sonder n besering? 😉
@ BrumbiesBoy:
“Senna was THE BEST.
He used to WIN races; Prost used to finish first…”
Ja, the difference between Hansen (All Blacks) and HM (Bokke).
The Hansen (AB) wins matches; HM (Bokke) does not lose matches.
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