June 2 (Reuters) – Replacement hooker Motu Matu’u, captain
Conrad Smith and scrumhalf Chris Eaton scored second-half tries
as the Wellington Hurricanes beat the New South Wales Waratahs
33-12 in their Super Rugby match in Sydney on Saturday.
The win kept alive the Hurricanes’ slim playoff chances as
they moved to 45 points, though several sides above them are
still to play later on Saturday.
“”It’s the first time we have had a win here and I’m stoked
with that,” Smith said in a pitchside interview. “We’ve got a
couple more games to go but who knows?
“We’re enjoying playing together and have defied a lot of
the critics who wrote us off at the start of the year, so we’re
loving it.”
The Waratahs dominated possession and territory,
particularly in the second half with their pack finally giving
them momentum, and dominating the set piece, but could not crack
the Hurricanes defence and made numerous handling errors.
Matu’u’s try came after another Waratahs’ turnover while on
attack and pressure from a kick chase gave the Hurricanes some
rare field position in the second half.
Smith scored with just over 10 minutes remaining to silence
the modest crowd.
Eaton grabbed the bonus point try right on fulltime after
the visitors got a penalty at halfway and kicked into the corner
to set up an attacking lineout, from which the replacement
scrumhalf was able to burst over.
Julian Savea’s try was the highlight of an error-strewn
first half, in which wet conditions denied the crowd any chance
of witnessing a display of free-flowing rugby.
Continued…
