Julian Savea bounced back from public humiliation over his lack of fitness with a hat-trick of tries as the Hurricanes downed the Jaguares 40-22 in their Super Rugby clash in Wellington yesterday.
In the first outing for the All Blacks’ star after being put on an intensive fitness regime two weeks ago, he showed signs of his blockbusting best, breaking the game open with a touchdown double just on halftime. He scored his third try in the 62nd minute to push the Wellington Hurricanes out to a 33-15 lead.
The Hurricanes outscored the Jaguares six tries to three, with the bonus-point try scored by replacement prop Ben May on fulltime. With four wins from six games, the Hurricanes lie fourth in the New Zealand conference, while the Jaguares have now lost five of six and are third in the Africa 2 conference.
Photo: AFP
They did indicate they were capable of producing a boilover in the first half when they were winning the forward exchanges and led 12-7 after 31 minutes.
However, Savea turned the tide with his first try two minutes from the break when Beauden Barrett put Blade Thomson through a hole and the big lock threw a long pass to send the wing crashing over in the corner. Savea scored again immediately from the restart when scrumhalf T.J. Perenara broke around the blind side of a maul and kicked downfield with the Hurricanes wing outsprinting Jaguares speedster Matias Orlando in a 40m race to recover the ball and score.
Barrett, who finished with a match haul of 15 points, converted both tries from wide out for the Hurricanes to turn with a 21-12 lead.
Nicolas Sanchez narrowed the gap with a penalty 10 minutes into the second half before Dane Coles and Savea scored in quick succession. Jaguares standout scrumhalf Martin Landajo kept the Jaguares in the hunt with a try in the 67th minute before they wilted to their heaviest defeat of the year with May’s late try.
In Brisbane, Australia, the Queensland Reds beat the Otago Highlanders 28-27 after leading 22-6 at halftime.
In Cape Town on Friday, the Stormers kept the Sunwolves winless with a 46-19 triumph.
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