Flyhalf Beauden Barrett yesterday engineered a face-saving 42-20 victory for the Wellington Hurricanes after the Southern Kings threatened an upset in a scrappy Super Rugby clash.
Barrett scored 18 points in the closing 27 minutes, including a bonus point try on the full-time whistle to snuff out a valiant performance by the Kings.
The South African unit are the only side in the competition without a single point to their name and have conceded 200 points in just four games.
Until Barrett set the Hurricanes alight, the Kings had threatened a boilover after fighting back from an early 19-3 deficit to close to within two points at 19-17 by halftime.
“They’ve been getting a few hidings in the last few weeks and we knew they would come out and give it to us, but I’m pretty stoked with the way we finished,” Hurricanes captain Dane Coles said.
The Hurricanes held a slender 28-20 lead until the dying minutes when Vince Aso scored before Barrett’s match-closing try to ensure a disappointing end for Kings’ skipper Steven Sykes.
“There were a lot of soft moments, especially at the end. We were in the game until the 75th minute,” said Sykes, who scored the first of the Kings’ two tries.
The match was a wake-up call for the Hurricanes, who were made to realize recent wins over the Western Force and Auckland Blues were not a sign they were finding the form that saw them make the final last year.
Although they started and finished strongly, there were several moments in between when it appeared not everyone knew what options were being taken on attack, while defensively they were slow to shut down the Kings.
In the opening stanza, the Hurricanes raced in tries to Ngani Laumape, Blade Thomson and Ardie Savea to lead 19-3 after 25 minutes, although by then there were signs the Kings were warming to the pace of the game.
Former Coastal Sharks lock Sykes crashed over for their first try after 30 minutes and Louis Fouche, benefitting from a deft offload by Shane Gates, beat Barrett to score the Kings second try on the stroke of halftime.
The Kings continued their new-found dominance for the first 13 minutes of the second half, but were unable to turn a territorial advantage into points.
Barrett then resumed the Hurricanes scoring with two penalties before Fouche landed his second to keep the Kings in touch.
A third Barrett penalty put the Hurricanes out to 28-20 and the Kings hopes of salvaging a bonus point were dashed when Aso and Barrett scored in the dying minutes.
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