Rampant Hurricanes brush aside Rebels to close in on Chiefs
Last Updated: 15/04/16 2:43pm
Fly-half Beauden Barrett scored two tries as he guided the Hurricanes to a 38-13 win over the Rebels in Melbourne.
Barrett put himself in prime position for the All Blacks No 10 jersey with a solid display at AAMI Park.
The Hurricanes scored six tries in a performance that keeps them in touch with New Zealand conference leaders the Chiefs. The Hurricanes are now four points behind the Chiefs on the ladder, with the two teams scheduled to meet in Wellington next week.
"We're really looking forward to that so we'll enjoy tonight and rest up, but we know how much those home derbies mean to us," Barrett said.
The Rebels, who last week made history by beating the Waratahs in Sydney for the first time, would have gone into the match full of confidence after drawing level with the Brumbies at the top of the Australian conference.
The home side held their own in the first 20 minutes, and even took an early lead when winger Dom Shipperley scored out wide from a Jack Debreczeni kick ahead. There was some good fortune involved as Shipperley's marker Julian Savea tripped on the up-turned turf from a scrum that had taken place moments before.
The Hurricanes struck back soon after when Victor Vito crossed following a superb break from Barrett up the centre of the park, breaking out of tackles before throwing a deft offload to Vito.
A Reece Hodge penalty put the Rebels back in front midway through the half, but it was an advantage they held onto for barely a minute as Cory Jane crossed to hand the Hurricanes a lead they never looked like surrendering.
A Barrett intercept under the posts made it 22-8, before fullback Jason Woodward crossed two minutes ahead of the break to send the visitors into half-time with a 29-8 lead.
The Hurricanes continued to dominate in the second half but the Rebels lifted their defensive intensity and it took until the 60th minute for the visitors to score, with flanker Ardie Savea crashing over after a lengthy possession.
Barrett then crossed for his second when he brilliantly regathered a charged down kick to race away and score under the posts.
Rebels winger Cam Crawford scored a try right on full time, but the home side were well beaten by a rampant Wellington outfit.
"We got what we deserved tonight," Melbourne captain Nic Stirzaker said. "We had a bit of an off night and were definitely not accurate in a lot of areas.
"I would like to see the territory stats - it didn't feel like we were in their half at all. The inability to get out of our own half killed us."