Hurricanes blow hot
The Hurricanes maintained their winning start to the season with another impressive success against the Lions in Wellington.
Last Updated: 27/02/10 11:10am
The Hurricanes maintained their winning start to the season with another impressive success against the Lions in Wellington.
After running in seven tries last week against the Western Force, the South Africans proved to be a much sterner test for the New Zealanders.
But tries from Michael Paterson, Piri Weepu, Andrew Hore and David Smith got the Hurricanes across the line - and with a bonus point - despite being down to 14 men for a 10-minute spell in the second half when Ma'a Nonu was sent to the sin-bin for repeated Hurricanes infringing.
The Lions rarely put boot to ball and their attacking mindset was rewarded with tries from Derick Minnie and Todd Clever.
The visitors paid the price for some early ill-discipline with Willie Ripia banging over a couple of penalties - one from near the halfway line - as the Hurricanes looked to set a solid platform by playing for territory rather than running from all corners.
Paterson fully deserved his second try of the season given it was his steal at the Lions lineout that put the Hurricanes on the front foot.
The ball was worked through the backline and although David Smith's final pass was a little wobbly, the big blindside flanker's neat sidestep saw him get past three Lions defenders to dot down in the 13th minute.
Ripia could not add the conversion and Lions full-back Earl Rose's radar was also off with a penalty attempt a couple of minutes later.
The visitors were starting to look more dangerous with ball in hand as Carlos Spencer's passes regularly found the hard-running Doppies La Grange.
Spencer, playing on New Zealand soil for the first time in more than five years, had a solid 65 minutes after a nervous moment early in the game when Conrad Smith was just fingertips away from grabbing an intercept.
On 22 minutes Nonu was penalised for not rolling away and from the resulting five-metre lineout Minnie was driven over. Rose added the extras but couldn't slot a penalty when Nonu was caught pulling back Franco van der Merwe off the ball.
Ill-discipline
More Lions ill-discipline saw Ripia slot another penalty and he followed that up with a conversion after Weepu darted over from close range on the stroke of half-time to give the Hurricanes a 21-7 lead.
The Lions started the second half with a roar as Clever powered his way through Tamati Ellison and Karl Lowe to dot down two minutes after the restart.
Aaron Cruden was introduced shortly afterwards for Ripia and almost had the perfect start but Smith couldn't hold onto his pass and the chance went begging.
Another Rose penalty got the Lions right back in the game at 21-15 but a good burst from hooker Hore, who beat four tacklers and threw a subtle dummy, saw the Hurricanes skipper dive over for his side's third try give them some breathing space.
Referee Paul Marks finally ran out of patience with the Hurricanes ill-discipline and Nonu paid the price in the 54th minute but aside from Rose's penalty the Lions were unable to capitalise on the one-man advantage as the home side dug deep on defence.
The Hurricanes grabbed their bonus point try 10 minutes from the end when Smith went over in the corner and although they finished strongly the Lions were unable to make their efforts count on the scoreboard.
