Hurricanes (22) 28 / Reds (5) 26 (Final Score)
The Hurricanes hosted the Reds at Westpac Stadium, Wellington at 09:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Hurricanes had a great first half, racking up their 4 tries and then it was time for the Reds to claw their way back and with 4 minutes to go the Reds held a slender 1-point lead. The Hurricanes got a penalty opportunity on full time and Aaron Cruden calmly slotted it, for a 2-point win by the Hurricanes.
Scorers:
Hurricanes: 1 Conversion & 1 Penalty & 1 Try Aaron Cruden, 1 Try Faifili Levave, 1 Try Andre Taylor, 1 Try Neemia Tialata
Reds: 3 Penalties & 1 Conversion Quade Cooper, 1 Try Scott Higginbotham, 2 Tries Luke Morahan
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Teams:
Hurricanes: 15 Andre Taylor, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Jayden Hayward, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Chris Eaton, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 James Broadhurst, 4 Jason Eaton, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore (captain), 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Anthony Perenise, 18 Jeremy Thrush, 19 Mark Reddish, 20 Tyson Keats, 21 Julian Savea, 22 Beauden Barrett.
Reds squad:
Forwards: Albert Anae, Saia Faingaa, Liam Gill, James Hanson, Scott Higginbotham, Greg Holmes, James Horwill (c), Van Humphries, Beau Robinson, Radike Samo, Guy Shepherdson, Rob Simmons, Adam Wallace-Harrison.
Backs: Will Chambers, Quade Cooper, Anthony Faingaa, Will Genia, Mike Harris, Ian Prior, Ben Lucas, Luke Morahan, Dom Shipperley, Kimami Sitauti.
Referee: Keith Brown
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson, James McPhail
TMO: Mike Fraser
@ The_Young_Turk:
it is only 1/2 that really matters, the 3rd spot is anyway allocated to the other nations top performer. He(3) will play 6 at his home ground. I see what you try and explain, but there is only one SA team that will really benefit if they end 1/2