Video live updates: Hurricanes vs Chiefs – Super Rugby

  • 30/07/2016
Loni Uhila (Photosport)
Loni Uhila (Photosport)

Hurricanes 25-9 Chiefs

FULLTIME: The Hurricanes will host the final for the second straight year. The Hurricanes win 25-9 over the Chiefs. The Hurricanes will be looking to win their maiden Super Rugby title. They are the only New Zealand team who have not won one yet. 

79mins: The Chiefs can't buy a try. Any chance they have had, they have had blown. If you look at the stats and not the score you would have thought the Chiefs would have won. 

74mins: The Chiefs blow a certain try, Stevenson breaks the line and falls over, he offloads it and the ball is spilled over the line. 

73mins: Hurricanes win the turnover. The defense by the home team has been pure class. Julian Savea is now allowed to make his way on to the field. 

71mins: Chiefs still on the attack edging closer to the line. Can they score a try and possibly pull off a late comeback. 

66mins: Chiefs back in the 22, and Cruden throws the ball into touch. This has simply not been the Chiefs night. 

63mins: Cory Jane has been shown yellow for deliberately knocking the ball down. Julian Savea will have to wait an extra 10 minutes before entering the field. 

58mins: The crowd roars as Ardie Savea wins the turnover at the ruck. Savea got over the ball very quickly and despite three Chiefs players competing for the ball, Savea still comes up with the goods. 

55mins: PENALTY GOAL HURRICANES - Beauden Barrett adds another three points to the Hurricanes increasing lead. Chiefs win the ball from the kick-off and are back on the attack. 

54mins: The Hurricanes are 22 meters away from the try-line, can they extend the lead? One more try would surely seal the game. 

51mins: PENALTY GOAL CHIEFS - McKenzie hits his third penalty of the night. Chiefs now down by 15 with 29 minutes to play. 

49mins: The Chiefs go close to scoring but turn it over. After winning a penalty, the away side are opting for the three. 

47mins: TRY HURRICANES - Victor Vito scores his third try of the season. Vito picks the ball up from the back after Perenara fooled Brad Weber which opened up space for Vito to crash over. Barrett adds the extra's. The Hurricanes are playing outstanding rugby. 

46mins: After 10 phases, the Chiefs win the turn over at the ruck, but the Hurricanes rush up and tackle the Chiefs in goal. Hurricanes now with a scrum five meters out. 

44mins: Hurricanes awarded a penalty after Sam Cane is penalized for foul play. Cane ran into Ricky Riccitelli trying to get back onside. The home side are back on the attack. 

43mins: Sam Cane shifts to No.8 after Tom Sanders heads to the bench. Lachlan Boshier enters the game. Official crowd count 25,600.

40mins: The Chiefs get the second half underway. Can the Chiefs mount a second half comeback? or will the Hurricanes hold on to the lead and host their second straight super rugby final? 

HALFTIME: The Hurricanes lead 15-6 at the break over the Chiefs despite having 38% possession in the first half. The Hurricanes have taken the oportunities when they have been presented to them, along with great defense has kept them in the drivers seat to reach the grand final. 

39mins: PENALTY GOAL CHIEFS - McKenzie adds another three just before the break from a very difficult angle. 

34mins: TRY HURRICANES - Beauden Barrett intercepts a Sam Cane pass and runs away to score under the post. The Hurricanes are feeling it right now.

32mins: PENALTY GOAL HURRICANES - After a long time defend their line, the Hurricanes get all the way down into the Chiefs half and get the penalty. Barrett slots the extra's from right in front to extend the lead to five. 

31mins: SMASH!! Ardie Savea smashes Aaron Cruden who knocks it on. The Hurricanes with a attacking chance despite 28% possession. They are awarded a penalty and go for the three. 

28mins: Ardie Savea gets the ball and smashes it downfield. Perenara gathers and offloads it before Halaholo knocks it on.

27mins: Ricky Riccitelli saves the try and the Chiefs go for another scrum. Can they score this time?... McKenzie is tackled into touch meters out. This is incredible defense by the home team.

27mins: Gardner goes upstairs to check a potential try. If it is awarded no-try, the Chiefs have a penalty advantage. If it is awarded no-try it looks like the Hurricanes could be down to 14 men.

26mins: The Chiefs now go with the scrum. The Chiefs have had 70% possession and 71% territory and have only completed nine tackles, yet only have three points to show for it. Cam they score here.  

23mins: Referee Angus Gardner speaks to Hurricanes captain Tj Perenara and warns him that the team is close to another yellow card. Chiefs close to the line after kicking for touch again. 

21mins: Chiefs have the line-out and start driving. Gardner holds out the arm and awards the Chiefs a penalty in kicking range. Cruden and Cane opt to kick for touch as they feel like they have momentum 

17mins: Ricky Riccitelli is putting on some big hits tonight. Trying to take most of his chance as starting hooker. Chiefs have the scrum just inside their own half. 

14mins: Poor mistake by the Chiefs after Seta Tamanivalu kicks the ball out on the full. Hurricanes now have an attacking line-out.

11mins: PENALTY GOAL CHIEFS- Damian Mckenzie slots the penalty goal from right in front. 

9mins: Chiefs very close to scoring. Once again the Hurricanes have been pinned for entering the ruck incorrectly and in a much easier position, McKenzie takes the three.

6mins: TRY HURRICANES - Willis Halaholo opens the scoring after some magic by Beauden Berrett. Barrett puts in the chip and regathers, runs to the oposite wing before finding Halaholo. 

5mins: McKenzie puts it wide. Hurricanes clear with a 22m drop-out. 

4mins: Cory Jane pinned for entering the ruck incorrectly and the Chiefs opt for the three. This will be a tough kick for McKenzie. Very close to halfway and near the sideline. 

2mins: The Hurricanes have the early possession, just inside the Chiefs half, before a poor pass gives the Chiefs back possession just on halfway. 

Kickoff: Here we go, Beauden Barrett gets the game underway.

7:34pm: Tj Perenara leads the home side out onto the field to a massive roar.

7:32pm: Sam Cane leads the Chiefs out on to the park.

7:25pm: Welcome to Westpac Stadium for this semi-final match between the Hurricanes and the Chiefs. Hurricanes Skipper Dane Coles has not recovered from his rib injury he suffered last week against the Sharks. This could be a big loss for the home side. The Chiefs have been helped with the return of loose-forward and Japan captain Michael Leitch. 

Commentary will start from around 7:25pm (NZT). In the meantime check out the video above for the latest episode of the Crooked Feed - Who needs to think outside the box this weekend. 

Lineups

Hurricanes

Forwards -1. Loni Uhila, 2. Ricky Riccitell,  3.Ben May ,  4.Vaea Fifita, 5. Michael Fatialota, 6. Brad Shields, 7. Ardie Savea, 8. Victor Vito

Backs – 9. Tj Perenara (c), 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Jason Woodward, 12. Willis Halaholo, 13. Matt Proctor, 14. Cory Jane, 15. James Marshall

Bench – 16. Leni Apisai, 17. Chris Eves, 18. Mike Kainga, 19. Mark Abbott, 20. Tony Lambourn, 21. Jamison Gibson-Park, 22. Vince Aso , 23. Julian Savea

Chiefs

Forwards -1. Kane Hames,  2. Nathan Harris, 3. Atu Moli ,  4.Dominic Bird , 5. Brodie Rettalick, 6. Taleni Seu, 7. Sam Cane (cc), 8. Tom Sanders

Backs – 9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 10. Aaron Cruden (cc), 11. James Lowe, 12. Anton Linert-Brown, 13. Seta Tamanivalu,  14. Sam McNicol, 15. Damian McKenzie

Bench – 16. Hika Elliott, 17. Siegfried Fisi'ihoi, 18. Mitchell Graham, 19. Lachlan Boshier, 20. Michael Leitch, 21. Brad Webber, 22. Toni Pulu, 23. Shaun Stevenson

Hurricanes - $1.45  Chiefs  - $2.45

Match facts

The Hurricanes have won nine of their last eleven games against the Chiefs on home turf, though they lost their last such encounter by one point in Round 9 earlier this season.

The Hurricanes have never won a play-off games in six attempts against New Zealand teams in Super Rugby. The Hurricanes lost 14-10 to the Chiefs in the semi-finals in 2009. 

Pre-match banter

Chiefs braced for semi-final mountain - By Ross Karl

The Chiefs are back on New Zealand soil and are priming for their most challenging test of the 2016 season when they take on the Hurricanes in their Super Rugby semi-final on Saturday.

Captain Sam Cane has been given the all clear to take the park following a head knock in last weekend's win over the Stormers, the flanker philosophical about the demands of a tough travel schedule.

"There's no magic secret to travelling," said Cane. "Everyone just tries to do it the best they can, and normally the best way to do it is to not talk about it and just get on with it."

Pivot Aaron Cruden was more than weary of the juggernaut they'll be facing in Wellington, while confident in his own side's abilities to get the job done.

"They're a lot stronger side now, but in saying that I think we are too," said the 27-year-old.

"We're pretty driven, and really hungry."

Coach Dave Rennie was similarly aware of the improvements the table-topping Hurricanes had made since the beginning of the 2016 season.

"They're a lot sharper," noted Rennie. "They've been on a big roll and they've knocked over a lot of big teams."

"They probably had the toughest run into the finals and ended up with the number one seed.

"They have a lot of good athletes, obviously their nine and ten are key to that but the athletes they have in their second row and loose forwards run hard and they cause a lot of havoc.

"So we have some big challenges."

Rennie smiled wryly as he offered some thoughts on Steve Hansen's reappointment as All Blacks coach through 2019.

"It was a shock to everyone wasn't it?" he smirked.

"I've talked a lot in the past about my plans to head overseas at some stage.

"Anyway, the focus is about on the Chiefs at the moment and we'll worry about that stuff maybe next year."

Newshub.