Chiefs beat Hurricanes 30-19 to set up Super Rugby final clash against Blues

Hurricanes 19-30 Chiefs, Sky Stadium

Chiefs managed to hold off a second half fightback from Hurricanes as they sealed a 30-19 victory in the semi-final of the Super Rugby Pacific at Sky Stadium on Saturday.

This means the Chiefs will now face Blues in the all-New Zealand Super Rugby final to be played on 22nd June at Eden Park.

Chiefs made a strong start to the game as Emoni Narawa showed great pace beating four defenders and sent a perfect offload for Samipeni Finau to touchdown in the third minute for the opening try and Damian McKenzie followed with the conversion to make it 0-7.

They doubled their tally by the 6th minute as Luke Jacobson send an inside pass for Cortez Ratima to go over for their second try and once again McKenzie kicked the conversion to make it 0-14. There was no respite whatsoever for Hurricanes as Peter Lakai was penalised for not rolling away and McKenzie kicked a penalty goal to extend the lead to 17 points.

The first response from Hurricanes came in the 21st minute as the forwards played a pivotal role as Lakai crossed over for their first points and Brett Cameron's conversion meant the gap came down to 10 points.

Chiefs were down to 14 players temporarily as Finau was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on TJ Perenara but they did well not to concede a point as they headed into the break with a 7-17 lead.

Chiefs were the quickest to get off the block in the second half as once again Lakai was penalised allowing McKenzie to kick a three-pointer making it 7-20 and shortly Jacobson became their second player to be yellow carded for a tackle off the ball.

The Hurricanes eventually capitalised on the numerical advantage as Walker-Leawere fired Cameron, who completed a converted try making it 14-20 but his effort was cancelled out with Daniel Rona scoring for Chiefs in the 62nd minute and McKenzie followed with a conversion and a penalty goal to make it 14-30.

Even though Billy Proctor scored a late try for Hurricanes, Chiefs went on to complete a comfortable 11 point victory to progress to the final of the competition where they will face Blues at Eden Park.

Team line up:

Hurricanes: 1 Pouri-Rakete-Stones, 2 Asafo Aumua, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Justin Sangster, 5 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 6 Brad Shields (c), 7 Peter Lakai, 8 Brayden Iose, 9 TJ Perenara, 10 Brett Cameron, 11 Salesi Rayasi, 12 Jordie Barrett, 13 Billy Proctor, 14 Josh Moorby, 15 Ruben Love

Reserves: 16 James O'Reilly, 17 Tevita Mafileo, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 James Tucker, 20 Devan Flanders, 21 Du'Plessis Kirifi, 22 Richard Judd, 23 Bailyn Sullivan

Chiefs: 1. Aidan Ross, 2. Samisoni Taukei'aho, 3. George Dyer, 4. Jimmy Tupou, 5. Tupou Vaa'i, 6. Samipeni Finau, 7. Luke Jacobson (c), 8. Wallace Sititi 9. Cortez Ratima, 10. Damian McKenzie, 11. Etene Nanai-Seturo, 12. Rameka Poihipi, 13. Anton Lienert-Brown, 14. Emoni Narawa 15. Shaun Stevenson

Reserves: 16. Bradley Slater, 17. Jared Proffit, 18. Reuben O'Neill, 19. Naitoa Ah Kuoi, 20. Simon Parker, 21. Xavier Roe, 22. Quinn Tupaea, 23. Daniel Rona.