WELLINGTON: The Wellington Hurricanes became the first side to confirm a Super 15 play-off spot when they downed the Auckland Blues 29-5 on a wet and windy Auckland night Saturday.
Points were difficult to come by amid limited opportunities for much of the first half, but once the Hurricanes found the way to the line there was no holding them back.
They scored twice in the countdown to half-time to turn in with a 17-0 lead and added two further tries in the second half.
It gave the runaway competition leaders their 12th win from 13 games and the four tries ensured their ninth bonus point.
The Blues, having a disastrous season and playing through continued uncertainty over the future of coach John Kirwan, have now played 14 games and won just three of them.
The heavy rain in Auckland ahead of the game dictated a lot of kicking and subsequent handling errors, with Blues fullback Lolagi Visinia suffering more than most.
But despite the Hurricanes producing the more intelligent kicking game and enjoying a dominance of possession and territory they initially found points hard to come by.
"It was one of those games where the forward pack that stood up the most was going to win and I thought we did a pretty good job in testing conditions," Hurricanes skipper Jeremy Thrush said.
"For the first 20-25 minutes we were watching the game a bit. I don't know what happened we just flicked the switch and turned up the dial and the boys started getting into their work and it felt a bit more comfortable with a bit of flow."
The Hurricanes blew an early try scoring opportunity when they conceded a penalty in a close-range line-out drive, and had to wait 35 minutes to touch down for the first time when prop Chris Eves bullocked his way over.
Just on half-time scrum-half TJ Perenara scored and with Otere Black landing both conversions and a penalty, the visitors held a 17-0 lead at the break.
The 20-year-old Black, a novice fly-half at Super level was a late addition to the 'Canes line up when Cory Jane was ruled out. Original pivot James Marshall was then moved to fullback to replace Nehe Milner-Skudder who took Jane's spot on the wing.
But he produced a sound game and added to his seven first half points with a further conversion when a Dan Coles try extended the Hurricanes lead to 24-0 before the Blues finally put points on the board.
George Moala set up their sole try when he sucked in the Hurricanes defence and delivered a slick off-load to replacement Matt Vaega for the try.
The Hurricanes then closed out the match when Rey Lee-Lo, slotting in at centre in place of All Black Conrad Smith, put Milner-Skudder over in the corner.
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