Hurricanes rue missed chances

Wellington side miss out on vital bonus point

Last updated: 9th May 2008

Weepu: Kicking king

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The Hurricanes failed to bag an all-important full house of points in their 21-10 victory over the Western Force in a hard-fought Super 14 match played in atrocious weather conditions on Friday.

Played with a slippery ball on a wet surface and in swirling winds, the match failed to capture the imagination with the oval ball in hand.

The Hurricanes will have felt aggrieved at entering half-time only 10-3 up after dominating territory, possession and everything else in-between.

Chances aplenty for the Hurricanes belied the wintry conditions at Westpac Stadium after both prop Neemia Tialata and pivot Willie Ripia went close to driving over the line - Tialata only missing out with the TMO unable to see the ball grounded over the line.

Early reward for a competent start - notable for some determined ball possession by the Hurricanes - came after 11 minutes when referee Jonathan Kaplan pulled up the Force fly-half Matt Giteau who made a throw-in to himself in the 22m area.

Kaplan ruled the ball hadn't travelled five metres and from the free kick the Hurricanes forwards mauled up to the try line and it was hooker Andrew Hore who blasted through the static defence to score.

Scrum-half Piri Weepu added to the penalty he had landed four minutes into the game by kicking the conversion.

Solid

Giteau had some more moments of anguish as he missed two simple shots at goal, but made it third time lucky with a penalty in the 26th minute for the visitors' first points of the match.

The Hurricanes continued to demonstrate their solid intent in the second half and forced the Force on the backfoot with several powerful charges towards the line, only to lose the ball in contact.

Credit to the Western Australians for their 'never-say-die' defence that saved three certain tries in the space of 10 minutes that not only kept them in the game, but had the hosts frustrated in their inability to score tries in their hunt for that all-important fourth try.

Hurricanes' skipper Rodney So'oialo opted for the safety of three points and Weepu didn't disappoint.

The All Black half-back was on hand to do the damage again in the 57th minute to take his side out to a 16-3 lead, but they were still missing those vital tries.

The hosts finally got their try through a well-worked backline move that ended with winger Hosea Gear diving over in the corner to break the try drought in the second half - much to the relief of the crowd.

With Jimmy Gopperth on the pitch as a replacement for Ripia, his first conversion attempt was not the easiest and with the rain now coming down in bucketloads, he can be forgiven for his miss.

What he couldn't be forgiven for however was allowing Force full-back Cameron Shepherd to take a quick tap off a free-kick, chip over Gopperth's head and hack the ball over the line - finishing off with a desperate grounding that was given the green light by the TMO.

Interestingly, it was also the first time the visitors had made it into the Hurricanes 22 in the second half.

GIteau converted the consolation try that gave the scoreline a bit of respect, but it wasn't a performance either side will want to remember and the Hurricanes should be happy with their four points.