Injury worries for Hurricanes and some gruff stuff from Reds coach Brad Thorn
Coach Brad Thorn is one of the best things the Reds have going for them.
We'll start with the Hurricanes' news and get to Reds coach Brad Thorn.
History will say the Hurricanes were 38-34 victors, over the Reds at Westpac Stadium on Friday night. It was an okay game in which the Reds were probably better than most folk expected and the Hurricanes worse.
More important than the result, which was never in doubt, is the potential toll the game took on the Hurricanes. Lock Vaea Fifita (shoulder) and centre Matt Proctor (sternum) both left the field with injuries that won't aid the team's tilt at the Super Rugby title.
Halfback TJ Perenara was lively for the Hurricanes.
"Same shoulder that he did at the start of the year. It's a bone bruise in the shoulder, same as Matt Proctor's done his sternum again, and they could both come to training on Monday and they could be fine or they might be out. You just have to wait and see," Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said.
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Fifita's due in Auckland before then, for an All Blacks camp, so we might get a quicker update on him. But with a knee niggle having made fellow lock Michael Fatialofa a late scratching from the Reds game and replacement Murray Douglas battling a foot issue, the stocks aren't plentiful.
Lock Sam Lousi got over for a try as the Hurricanes hung on to beat the Reds.
Proctor, meanwhile, is the glue of the Hurricanes' backline and has already missed a month of football with that sternum problem.
With fellow midfield back Vince Aso gone for the season and Wes Goosen, who's another option there, not due back from a broken jaw until July, that's another area that's not as strong as it was.
But at least the Hurricanes are winning. That's 10 on the trot now, since the round-one defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria. The team are still miles off the perfect game they seek, but there's no doubt they've got it better than Thorn and the Reds.
He'd come to Wellington expecting to win. Never mind the hiding the Sunwolves gave the Reds last week. The former All Black and Brisbane Bronco remains one of life's achievers and that's partly because of how much losses hurt him.
Pity the bloke, then, who asked Thorn about Australia's Super Rugby losing streak against New Zealand sides now extending to 40 games.
"It's just about winning mate. It's just about Queensland, I'm not coaching any other Australian team or worrying about Australia. I'm worried about Queensland and I'm there to win and so are the boys," Thorn said.
"It's disappointing to lose [this game]. On the other side of that, respect to the Hurricanes. They did what they had to do and a good team does that. They're right up the top there and you win a game like that when you're [up there] so I understand that.
"But it's disappointing. The guys brought plenty to that game and to fall short there was disappointing."
The Hurricanes were hardly euphoric themselves. Scoring 38 points should've ensured a handsome victory. Instead the competition's best defensive side, as they were coming into this match, conceded a few more points than they're used to.
On the positive side of the ledger, there was a brace to wing Ben Lam. He now has 14 tries for the season, one short of the Super record held by team-mate Ngani Laumape.
Beauden Barrett, Blade Thomson and Sam Lousi were the other tryscorers, while Barrett kicked six from six.
The Reds' tries came from Taniela Tupou, Filipo Daugunu, Jordan Petaia and Samu Kerevi.
- Stuff
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