Unbelievably the Hurricanes have made the final of the Super 14 - the first time in the franchise's history that they have made a super-rugby final (they have made the semis on three other occasions - 1997, 2003 and 2005).
It was another huge effort, the canes led 13-8 at half time, and spent the first 23 minutes of the second half (which seemed an eternity) camped in the Warratahs 22, and failed to score any points. The Tahs then scored two penalties to take a 14-13 lead with about 9 minutes remaining - to be honest we looked dead and buried. We couldnt crack the tahs defence, the first chance they got to score points - they took it, we replied by making a hash of the kick off - they score again. But not this time. Cane's first five, Jimmy Gopperth (dubbed Jimmy Dropperth by the aussie media for his shocker last week) slotted a penalty from halfway (lierally) to claim the lead back with 6 on the clock.
Lote Tuqiri (the decent black league convert - not to be confused with Wendall "the junkie" Sailor) then missed a drop goal, which he claimed went over (missed by a good 20m). Then all that was left was for the canes to hang on.
Which they did, winning 16-14. The highly favoured Crusaders play fourth placed Bulls in Christchurch tomorrow night. If the Crusaders win, the final will be an all NZ affair in Chch, otherwise if the Bulls pull off an upset - we're back in Wellington next week. Dare I say it - go the Bulls?!?!?!
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