Hurricanes v Brumbies: Five takeaways as All Blacks stars flex ‘clear gulf in class’ to ‘humiliate’ Aussies in record Super Rugby Pacific thrashing
Hurricanes fly-half Ruben Love and an inset of Brumbies' Tom Wright.
Following the Hurricanes’ 66-12 qualifying finals victory over the Brumbies, here are our five takeaways from the Super Rugby Pacific knockout match.
The top line
A battering, canning and dominant Hurricanes display as they humiliated the Brumbies by breaking the Bulls’ 17-year-long record by scoring 66 points, eclipsing the men from Pretoria’s 61-17 hammering of the Chiefs in the 2009 final. The New Zealanders have been the leading team in the competition this year, and today was yet another statement of intent, running in nine tries to the Australians‘ two.
The ‘Canes scored at will in the first half with Caleb Delany troubling the scorekeepers in the sixth minute and was swiftly followed by Cameron Roigard, who crossed three minutes later. Further scores from Billy Proctor and Warner Dearns saw the hosts surge into a 31-point lead before the Brumbies finally mustered a reply through Corey Toole.
However, it was the dominant Hurricanes who had the final say of the half as Roigard completed his brace with the hosts falling two points shy of a point-a-minute in the opening stanza. After receiving the Stephen Larkham hairdryer treatment at the break, the Brumbies were somewhat more competitive during the opening knockings of the second half, but again, it was the ‘Canes who struck first with Dearns doubling his tally.
Tane Edmed got one back for the visitors in the 51st minute, but that was the final try of the season for the Brumbies as the Hurricanes found their rhythm again in the final quarter. The men from Wellington scored in the 59th, 70th and 76th with Ngani Punivai running in a hat-trick to add insult to the Brumbies’ injury.
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Hurricanes a different class
There was a clear gulf in quality today as the Hurricanes made light work of Australia’s most consistent Super Rugby Pacific club in recent years. The Brumbies have always been there or thereabouts but on Friday evening at the Cake Tin; they were absolutely nowhere.
It was quite simply one-way traffic from the first to last whistle in the first half as the ‘Canes rampaged their way to a 38-7 half-time lead. The Australians’ only points of the half came off the back of sharp thinking from scrum-half Ryan Lonergan, who managed to punish the only real time the Hurricanes switched off.
In the opening stanza, it’s hard to pinpoint a facet of play where the Brumbies managed even to compete, as the men in yellow and black bossed the scrums, lineouts, gain-line, possession and territory and didn’t waste their opportunities, either running in five tries.
The Hurricanes have been the standard bearers throughout this season, racking up 55 league points to top the table. It was always going to be a tall ask for the Brumbies to knock over the competition’s best. Still, few would have predicted such a compelling battering as the Aussies simply lacked the horsepower to challenge the men from Wellington.
Clark Laidlaw’s men weren’t a one-trick pony either as they managed to score points at will, whether it was through their transition attack, multi-phase or strike moves from set-pieces. They bossed the gain-line on defence too, stifling the Brumbies’ attack and didn’t give them freebies at lineout time.
It was truly sensational showing from Super Rugby’s leading club as the Hurricanes racked up 14 entries into the Brumbies’ 22 and averaged a mind-blogging 4.7 points per entry.
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Joe Schmidt and Les Kiss will have kept an eye on proceedings in Wellington with their Wallabies’ caps on, and the carnage that they witnessed will only raise concerns going forward. Australia face Ireland, France and Italy this July and will pull a large chunk of their players from the Brumbies squad, and on today’s evidence, the Wallabies coaching team have a lot of work ahead of them.
As mentioned above, there was very, very little good about the Brumbies’ performance, and Australian teams have struggled in general against their Kiwi counterparts this season. With Dave Rennie taking over the All Blacks from Scott Robertson, there is a real threat that the Bledisloe Cup could play out in a similar fashion come October.
Schmidt has proved that he can put together a Wallabies team that is hard to beat despite the underperformance at Super Rugby level, but the gulf in class on display today cannot be overlooked or swept aside.
New Zealand’s dominance in home Super Rugby knockouts
The odds were stacked up against the Brumbies today, and Larkham’s men simply couldn’t overcome them as they fell to the same fate that every other Australian team has succumbed to when facing a New Zealand club in a Super Rugby play-off in Aotearoa: defeat.
It’s a running theme that has stuck since the inaugural season of Super Rugby, and there doesn’t look to be an end in sight, with the odds also stacked against the Queensland Reds in Waikato on Saturday.
The demise of the Melbourne Rebels meant that the remaining Aussie teams received a depth boost for the 2026 season, but that hasn’t translated significantly in terms of overall performance as the New Zealanders cruised through the league stages of Super Rugby, claiming the top four positions on the table and made light work of the first knockout match.
All Blacks’ game drivers
While Schmidt and Kiss will have watched on in dismay, Rennie and his new All Blacks staff will have been licking their lips watching the action unfold.
Established All Blacks Roigard and Jordie Barrett were the game drivers for the Hurricanes, masterminding the attack that torn the Brumbies’ defence apart. They were ably assisted by the sensational Ruben Love who is primed for a massive year in the black jersey after limited opportunities under Robertson.
Today was just further evidence of how impactful Love can be with experienced and world-class operators around him and with a pack that is rampaging forward. He was faultless off the tee, another bonus, and picked his moments well to make his mark on the game. Equally so, he was happy to take a backseat to Roigard or Barrett, a sign of a player that is really starting to understand his game.
Jason Ryan will have also been salivating at the performances up front with Tyrel Lomax getting through another tidy shift after his torrid run of injuries, while the starting front-row of Xavier Numia, Asafo Aumua and Pasilio Tosi laid the groundwork for the victory at scrum time and around the park. The trio are all primed to be in the mix for a black jersey at the very least this year and would all be thoroughly deserving of the opportunity.