Hurricanes player ratings: All Blacks coaches put on ‘notice’ while Bailyn Sullivan dominates after Naholo injury
Hurricanes centre Billy Proctor and an inset of Bailyn Sullivan.
Following the Hurricanes’ 35-17 victory over the Chiefs in Wellington, here is how we rated Clark Laidlaw’s charges in the Super Rugby Pacific win.
Hurricanes player ratings v Chiefs
15 Callum Harkin: Conceded possession a handful of times but it didn’t cost the Hurricanes in the end. He grew into the game to put in a solid performance. 6
14 Ngane Punivai: Made good in-roads with his carries but did miss a couple of tackles. The other wing saw much more action, but Punivai did what was required of him. 6
13 Billy Proctor: He will be livid with his pass that Daniel Rona picked off before the end of the first half, but the midfielder quickly put that behind him and led the Hurricanes’ defensive charge, landing 16 tackles, the most by a backline player, and won a turnover. Threw a great pass out to Sullivan for one of his tries and put the All Blacks coaching staff on notice again. 8
12 Riley Higgins: Another who improved as the game progressed after making a poor tackle attempt on Rona, leading to the Chiefs‘ first try. But he went about making up for his error and did so superbly with a well-rounded performance capped off with a wonderful grubber assist. 7
11 Kini Naholo: A real shame to see the in-form winger leave the pitch with such a serious-looking injury, which may well end his hopes of cracking the All Blacks squad and follow in his brother Waisake’s footsteps this year. Cannot give the winger a fair rating, having lasted just seven minutes. N/A
10 Ruben Love: A few errors early on, but played a pivotal role in the Hurricanes’ scoring 26 unanswered points in the second half. A serious talent, whether he is at fly-half or full-back. Today, he showed that and put in a match-winning shift, issuing a clear statement of intent to Scott Robertson and keeping his club’s Super Rugby Pacific play-off hopes alive. 9
9 Cam Roigard: Rarely has a poor game, and today wasn’t one of those occasions as he shone once again. He racked up over 60 metres but his overall service and decision-making was the real highlight of his outing. 7
The pack
8 Peter Lakai: Huge on both sides of the ball in an Ardie Savea-esque performance. It’s easy to see why Robertson is a fan. 8
7 Du’Plessis Kirifi: A captain’s knock. Lead the charge at the breakdown and in defence against a far more fancied Chiefs’ pack. 8
6 Brayden Iose: Telling impacts all over the park in an action-packed 62-minute showing. Knocking on that All Blacks door again, but will need to show consistency. 7
5 Isaia Walker-Leawere: Key figure at lineout time while picking off two turnovers at the breakdown too. Crucial to the Hurricanes’ efforts up front. 7
4 Zach Gallagher: Promoted to the starting XV before kick-off and rose to the challenge, topping the tackle count with 22 shots in his 66 minutes, missing just one. 8
3 Tyrel Lomax: Quite simply did his job and did it effectively, he has set a standard of performance and met it today. 7
2 Asafo Aumua: Precise few opportunities to impress with ball in hand, but made his tackles in defence and hit his jumpers at lineout time. 6
1 Tevita Mafileo: Similar to his hooker in what was a tidy performance. 6
Replacements: Bailyn Sullivan will dominate the headlines with a marvellous four-try performance but there were key impacts from the likes of Brad Shields and Ereatara Enari that steered the Hurricanes to victory. But Sullivan deserves the praise as he repeatedly punished the Chiefs and steered his side to victory. The Chiefs have got great purchase from their bench this season but today, the Hurricanes got more and were deserved victors. 9
