The ACT Brumbies have been dumped out of the Super Rugby Pacific finals series after setting unwanted club records in Wellington on Friday.
The Brumbies gave up 66 points, the most the franchise has ever conceded, as the Hurricanes marched to a 66-12 win.Â
The 54-point defeat is the largest loss an Australian side has had in a Super Rugby finals match.
A dismal first half set up the loss, where the Brumbies gave up 38 points, the most ever conceded by the Brumbies before half-time.
The loss extends the dire record of Australian franchises playing finals in New Zealand. No Australian side has ever won a finals match across the Tasman since the professional era began in 1996.
That record now stands at 0-22 after the Hurricanes, who finished on top of the table at the end of the regular season, dismantled the Brumbies to march into next weekend’s semifinals.
“They’ve been class all year, and they showed that again tonight,” Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa said after the defeat.
“There were plenty of good moments for us, but we didn’t capitalise on them … it’s going to be a tough review for us.”
Rain had fallen in the New Zealand capital throughout the day, and a downpour hit just before kick-off.
The Brumbies started smartly and spent most of the opening minutes inside the half of the Hurricanes.
But the home side was first to score, converting a Brumbies knock-on into a 70-metre try.
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Openside flanker Luke Reimer failed to catch a wide pass from scrumhalf Ryan Lonergan, giving the Hurricanes the ball against a fractured defensive line.
After one breakdown, the Hurricanes spread the ball to the right, and a lovely sequence of passing led to lock forward Caleb Delany touching down for the opening try in the seventh minute.
The Hurricanes attacked down the right just three minutes later, with another nice sequence of short passes leading to scrumhalf Cam Roigard scoring to give the home side a 14-point lead.
That lead was extended to 17 in the 15th minute when fly-half Ruben Love chipped over a simple penalty goal attempt, with the match getting away from the Brumbies.
Errors were cruelling the Brumbies, who had opportunities to threaten the Hurricanes’ goal-line but coughed up possession too often.
When the Hurricanes’ backline produced a nice move, this time down the left, to send outside centre Billy Proctor in for a third try, the game felt all but lost.
The game was lost in the 32nd minute when Warner Dearns charged onto a short ball and scored under the posts for a 31-0 lead.Â
The Brumbies would get on the board before half-time with a moment of brilliance.
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Scrumhalf Lonergan put in a lovely chip kick from the base of the ruck for winger Corey Toole to chase and score.
But any hope of Toole’s try being the start of a special comeback was quickly ended when Roigard touched down under the posts after darting from the breakdown to give the Hurricanes a 38-7 half-time lead.
“Us and the Brumbies have a lot of history, and we’ve been on the other side of it,” Rogard said of their record win.
“It was personal for us this week. Really proud of the boys; it was pretty much an 80-minute performance.”
Hurricanes substitute back Ngane Punivai scored a second-half hat-trick, as the home side scored four tries after the break to cement their domination.
The Queensland Reds will have a chance to finally be the Australian team to win a finals match in New Zealand when they face the Chiefs in Hamilton tomorrow.
The Crusaders will host the Blues in Christchurch to end the opening week of the finals.
The three winners of the opening week of the finals, plus the highest-ranked loser, face off in the semifinals next week.
The Reds must defeat the Chiefs to advance to the semifinals. If the Reds pull off the upset, the loser of the Crusaders versus Blues match will be eliminated from the finals series.
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