Highlanders crowned Super Rugby champs

The Highlanders made history by winning their first ever Vodacom Super Rugby title and becoming the first team to do it the hard way by doing it from a wild-card entry into the finals series as they edged out the Hurricanes 21-14 in a thrilling decider at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium on Saturday.

It was a match fitting of the occasion, with both teams making it clear from the outset that they were not going to die wondering as they threw everything at their opponents. It was a game that in some ways went according to script, in that the Highlanders won because they employed the better territory/kicking game, but in one crucial way it didn’t, for most pundits predicted a home team win.

The halftime stats told a story – the Highlanders had been forced to make more than twice as many tackles, but they kicked a lot more than their opponents, and they led 13-5. While they came second in the battle for possession up to that point, they got into the Hurricanes half enough to create opportunities which they exploited, and their impressive line-speed on defence just made it impossible for the Hurricanes to pick up momentum.

The upshot was that the Hurricanes, who were often so close to scoring and only just denied, were chasing the game from the fifth minute, which was when Lima Sopoaga kicked the first penalty to put the Highlanders into a 3-0 lead. And when you are chasing a game, particularly in a final, you simply have to make full use of your point scoring opportunities.

The Hurricanes didn’t do that, and apart from two missed penalties from flyhalf Beauden Barrett, there was also the decision to opt for a scrum rather than kick for posts in the early minutes. It was a game of fine margins, and although he did miss a crucial attempt in the second half, Sopoaga had his kicking boots on whereas Barrett, who also missed a conversion, didn’t.

The Highlanders were dominant in the first 20 minutes of a match played at stupendous pace, and the Hurricanes were just hanging on at that point. A few times the Highlanders came close to scoring, but the Hurricanes defence stood firm, leaving Sopoaga to attempt a drop that he missed before he later was on target with a second penalty to make it 6-0 after 28 minutes.

At that point the Highlanders were full value for their lead, but then came a subtle momentum shift as the Hurricanes went onto the attack. From a scrum they tried a few pick and goes before TJ Perenara sent out a long flat pass that the Highlanders weren’t prepared for and All Black centre Ma’a Nonu forced his way in at the corner flag.

Barrett’s angled conversion was missed to leave the Hurricanes trailing by one but the try should have been the confidence booster the Hurricanes needed heading into halftime, which was just minutes away.

However, that was when Highlanders flanker Elliot Dixon produced what could be described as the match winning moment. Had the teams gone to the break at 6-5, it might have been a different game in the second half, but Dixon thundered his way in from several metres out and with five players on his back.

The TMO had a difficult call to make as from some angles it looked like Dixon had grounded the ball on a Hurricanes boot, but in the end he probably made the right one in instructing referee Jaco Peyper, who was brilliant in controlling his first final, to award the try. With Sopoaga succeeding where Barrett had failed by landing a difficult conversion, it meant that the Highlanders went to halftime eight points clear and that was a significant lead in the pressure of a championship decider.

The Hurricanes did draw three points back two minutes into the second half when Barrett landed his first successful kick of the night. However, a flurry of exquisite passing, running and switching of direction saw the muscular figure of Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo barge over in the right corner to make it 18-8 and suddenly the Highlanders had made it an even longer road back for the Hurricanes.

They tried, they certainly did, and the hosts could certainly not be faulted for effort. There was nothing lacking in their intensity, just something on occasion in the accuracy of their execution, and they struggled to contain the Highlanders’ clever play at the breakdowns.

Two Barrett penalties brought the score to 18-14 after 65 minutes, but before that there was a match defining moment that is going to haunt the Hurricanes and their supporters for the remainder of the winter. An excellent attack had set up the chance going left and Julian Savea just needed to hold onto the ball to go over in the corner, but the All Black wing allowed it to bobble and then drop as the chance went a begging.

The Highlanders’ exit play throughout the game was excellent and it was so again. The Hurricanes, who had been instructed by coach Chris Boyd at halftime to play more of a territory game in the second half, experienced another agonising moment like that with nine minutes to go when they set up a driving maul and from a lineout just metres from the Highlanders line and visiting reserve prop Ross Geldenhuys made the impact that saw the ball dislodged and another opportunity lost.

It was effectively the Hurricanes’ last chance of winning the game for the Highlanders showed great composure in playing the final minutes of the game in Hurricanes territory. They could have wrapped it up with four minutes to go when Geldenhuys was tackled just a metre out by Savea when a score looked certain after Marty Banks had feinted to drop and then ran himself.

But the miss wasn’t to prove costly for the Highlanders as two minutes later Banks did drop for goal and it was on target. Faced with the task of scoring a converted try just to draw, the Hurricanes never made a further impression and the Highlanders duly sealed their place in the history books for being the first team to win the competition by playing in three knock-out fixtures.

 

SCORES

HIGHLANDERS – Tries: Elliot Dixon and Waisake Naholo; Conversion: Lima Sopoaga; Penalties: Lima Sopoaga 2; Drop-goal: Marty Banks.

HURRICANES – Try: Ma’a Nonu; Penalties: Beauden Barrett 3.

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