Jordie Barrett yesterday helped the Hurricanes to a much-needed 30-19 victory over the Highlanders in Super Rugby Aotearoa in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Barrett scored all of the Hurricanes’ points — three tries, three conversions and three penalties — as they posted their first win of the season.
The Hurricanes blew a big lead against the Chiefs last week, but managed to hold on against the Highlanders after backing Barrett’s exploits with some strong defense.
“We had to stay mentally strong, not just for periods of the game, but for the full 80 minutes,” Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea said. “When results are going like that you need to bring the love, bring a positive vibe, the boys came out and did the job.”
Barrettput the Hurricanes on the board with a booming, 50m penalty after six minutes.
He then crossed for the opening try, before clinically converting.
The Hurricanes came under pressure after prop Tyrel Lomax was sin-binned for collapsing a scrum, allowing lock Bryn Evans to capitalize with a try, but Barrett hit back with the Hurricanes’ second try to make it 17-7 for the visitors on the stroke of halftime.
He completed his hat-trick when Ngani Laumape put him though shortly after the restart, converting and then adding another long-range penalty to make it 27-7.
The Hurricanes gave away an almost identical lead against the Chiefs and a similar collapse looked possible. Connor Garden-Bachop and Thomas Umaga-Jensen scored tries to narrow the gap to 27-19, but Barrett booted his final penalty to seal the win.
In yesterday’s Super Rugby AU match, the Brumbies crushed the Western Force 42-14.
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