Chiefs stun Hurricanes to reach Super Rugby Pacific final after flying start
Saturday, 15 June 2024
Chiefs beat Hurricanes 30-19 to reach second straight Super Rugby Pacific final.
The Chiefs scored twice inside the first six minutes of the match.
The Chiefs will play the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland in the grand final next Saturday.
At Sky Stadium, Wellington: Chiefs 30 (Samepeni Finau 3’, Cortez Ratima 6’, Daniel Rona 62’ tries, Damian McKenzie 3 con, 3 pen) Hurricanes 19 (Peter Lakai 21’, Brett Cameron 55’, Billy Proctor 71’ tries, Cameron 2 con). HT: 17-7.
The Chiefs will get another shot at Super Rugby Pacific supremacy after stunning the Hurricanes in an eventful semifinal at Sky Stadium in Wellington on Saturday.
Last year’s beaten finalists overcame the late withdrawal of star fullback Shaun Stevenson and yellow cards to Samipeni Finau and captain Luke Jacobson to triumph 30-19 in a pulsating knockout clash after rocking the Hurricanes with two tries inside the first six minutes.
Clayton McMillan’s men will now play the Blues in their second straight grand final, at Eden Park in Auckland next Saturday, after losing last year’s decider against the Crusaders, while the Hurricanes’ dream season under first-year coach Clark Laidlaw has come up agonisingly short.
The Chiefs have not won a Super Rugby title since 2013 and they arrived in Wellington as slight underdogs after losing both their previous encounters against the Hurricanes during the regular season.
They were dealt a major blow before kickoff when Stevenson was ruled out with a hamstring injury but the last-minute loss of their inspirational fullback didn’t knock them off their stride.
Finau and halfback Cortez Ratima had the Chiefs up 14-0 after just six minutes as the visitors made a dream start to silence a bumper Wellington crowd.
In-form winger Emoni Narawa broke three tackles and sent Finau through to score inside the first three minutes before Ratima doubled their lead when the ball landed fortuitously for Wallace Sititi after Etene Nanai-Seturo had a kick partially charged down.
The Hurricanes looked rattled.
They eventually got on the board when Peter Lakai sold a dummy in front of an injured Samisoni Taukei'aho, who hobbled off to the bench immediately after.
But had it not been for Finau’s high shot on TJ Perenara, which cost the enforcer 10 minutes in the sin bin, the Chiefs could have been out of sight in the first half.
The Chiefs had a third first-half try rubbed out when the television match official called referee Angus Gardner back for potential foul play after spotting Finau’s hit on Perenara.
Finau launched himself at the competition’s all-time leading try scorer as he lined up a box kick and although Perenara was still in the kicking motion, the hard-hitting blindside was judged to have made head on head contact.
The try was ruled out, Finau was shown a yellow card and Perenara was sent for a head injury assessment, which he passed, allowing him to return to the field some 14 minutes later.
Finau looked to have made an immediate impact upon return from the sin bin, setting up Rona right before halftime but he was judged to have stepped outside the field of play as he tiptoed down the sideline and fired a pass inside for his winger.
A long-range penalty from Damian McKenzie extended the Chiefs’ lead at the start of the second half.
They survived a scare when Justin Sangster charged down McKenzie’s clearing kick after kick off but the ball bounced away from the grasp of the Hurricanes lock.
The Chiefs were reduced to 14 men for the second time in the game when captain Jacobson was shown a yellow card for a late tackle on Jordie Barrett.
The Hurricanes capitalised on their numerical advantage on this occasion by scoring the first try of the second half when Isaia Walker-Leawere sent Brett Cameron through to score in the 55th minute, closing the gap to six.
But they blew a chance to take the lead for the first time in the game when winger Josh Moorby spilled the ball over the try line as he dived to score in the right corner when a defender slid in to stop him.
It proved to be a pivotal moment in the match.
Standout No 8 Sititi made the Hurricanes pay when he intercepted a pass from Cameron and sprinted the length of the field.
Rona scored to restore the Chiefs’ double-digit advantage.
Billy Proctor cut the deficit to 11 when he scored in the left corner with nine minutes to play but it was too little, too late for the Hurricanes.
The Chiefs hung on to claim the win, eliminating the table-topping Hurricanes and sending the fourth-place qualifiers through to next Saturday’s grand final.
Chiefs star McKenzie finished with 15 points after nailing all six of his kicks but the night belonged to 21-year-old Sititi, who announced himself on the big stage with a standout individual showing in his first semifinal.