Hurricanes edge out Reds

Celebration: Cruden is mobbed by team-mates after winning kick

Aaron Cruden's late penalty gave the Hurricanes a 28-26 victory over the Reds in Wellington.

The Hurricanes had run in four first-half tries to open a 22-5 lead at the break before the Reds engineered a brilliant response.

Luke Morahan touched down twice and Quade Cooper slotted three penalties to put the visitors 26-25 ahead with nine miutes remaining.

But Reds prop Guy Shepherdson was caught off-side in front of his own posts in the last minute and Cruden, who had earlier missed four kicks, made no mistake with the resulting penalty.

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It did not start well for the Hurricanes with Reds number eight Scott Higginbotham getting the first try with just two minutes gone.

A superb break through midfield by Mike Harris and Will Chambers had the Hurricanes back-pedalling and, although Dom Shipperley was hauled in, the ball was spun to the right and Higgingbotham powered over from close range.

A clever Cooper kick almost got the Reds another try just a few minutes later, but Morahan lost the ball forward as he tried to get downward pressure on it under close attention from Andre Taylor.

But the remainder of the half belonged to the Hurricanes as first Faifili Levave, then Cruden, Taylor and Neemia Tialata all got over the whitewash.

Levave slid over in the right-hand corner after 12 minutes after they won a turnover at a Reds lineout.

Ngatai showed his strength to bump off Will Chambers before Alapati Leiua dished out the same treatment to Cooper. The ball eventually reached Levave and he dived low and early to score.

Cruden missed the conversion and a penalty but he was enjoying far more success with ball in hand, regularly taking on the Reds line, and he burst through a gap between Greg Holmes and Guy Shepherdson to score under the posts. He added the conversion.

Taylor was next to score after the Reds conceded a penalty slowing the ball down at the ruck. The young full-back had sparked the initial attack from deep in his own half, beating Chambers as he raced up field.

But it was quick hands along the back line that created the space for Taylor to eventually get over in the corner.

Five minutes before half-time the Hurricanes secured their bonus point when Tialata barrelled over the top of Will Genia to score and the home side took a healthy 22-5 lead into the break.

The start of the second half was a replica of the opening to the match. A pinpoint accurate kick from Cooper saw Morahan dot down in the corner as the Reds looked to start a fight back.

A Cooper penalty got them back to within nine points but that was quickly rubbed out when Higginbotham tackled Ngatai high and Cruden slotted the straightforward penalty.

Injured

Ngatai, however, had to be taken from the field after twisting awkwardly in the tackle.

A second Cooper penalty got the Reds right back in the match and when Morahan scored a wonderful individual try in the 64th minute and converted to close the gap to two points Hurricanes nerves began to jangle.

The Hurricanes' hopes of a win looked to have evaporated when Cooper banged over another three pointer.

But Cruden got the kick the mattered as the final hooter blew.