Hurricanes v Rebels Stat Attack

The Hurricanes earned a runaway 45-22 win over the Rebels in their latest match in Sydney on Saturday night. Some facts and figures from the game below, by Peter Marriott.

Round 14 v Rebels: Won 45-22

The Hurricanes and the Rebels have now met 10 times since 2011. The Rebels won the first-ever encounter while the Hurricanes have won the last nine in a row. This winning sequence against another franchise has only been bettered once by the Hurricanes: 10 successive victories against the Force (between 2008 and 2021), and equalled against the Blues (between 2015 and 2019).

The Hurricanes and the Rebels last met at Wellington on 21 May 2021: exactly a year ago to the day.

The Hurricanes have now won four matches by a margin of 23 points. All of those matches have been played  in Wellington.

This was the Hurricanes 99th match against Australian sides. They have won 65 of them (65.7%) and lost 34.

The Hurricanes brought up a major milestone in this match: it was their 100th win in Wellington. Three of those victories were achieved at the old Athletic Park and 97 at the Westpac/Sky Stadium.

The Hurricanes have won at least one match against all opposition sides and a breakdown of the results is as follows: Blues (eight
wins), Brumbies (five), Bulls (three), Cheetahs (four), Chiefs (14), Crusaders (seven), Fijian Drua (one), Force (three), Highlanders (11), Jaguares (one), Kings (two), Lions (eight), Moana Pasifika (one), Rebels (six), Reds (nine), Sharks (six), Stormers (five), Sunwolves (one) and Waratahs (five).

This was the Hurricanes 149th Super Rugby match played in Wellington which gives them a winning success rate of 67.1% in the Capital.
Forty-six matches have been lost, and three have been drawn.

When the match played in 2017 against the British & Irish Lions is included, this was actually the Hurricanes 150th match in Wellington. That match was drawn.

The Hurricanes scored 45 points in a match for the fifth time. They have now scored 45 points or more on 30 occasions and have never lost any of those matches. Their highest total in a losing cause (44) was against the Highlanders at Wellington in July 2013 when the visitors prevailed 49-44. Only TJ Perenara and Julian Savea remain from that match and Savea scored a try. In the Highlanders side that day were three former Hurricanes players: Tamati Ellison, Hosea Gear and Andrew Hore. The first two named each scored a try.

The Hurricanes scored seven tries against the Rebels which took their tally in 2022 to 60. This is the sixth time they have reached 60 or more tries in a Super Rugby season: in 2015 they scored 63 (from 18 matches), in 2016 (72 from 18), in 2017 (a record 97 from 17), in 2018 (72 from 18), 2019 (68 from 18) and this year, 60 tries from 13 matches.

Three of the seven tries were scored by the forwards and four by the backs. The Hurricanes have now scored a total of 1,251 tries in their 374 Super Rugby matches: there have been four penalty tries, 347 tries have been scored by the forwards, and exactly 900 have been scored by the backs. Aidan Morgan scored the 900th try.

Of the try scorers Siua Maile touched down for his first, Morgan his second, James Blackwell his third, Blake Gibson his ninth (including six for the Blues between 2015 and 2021), Billy Proctor his 10th (second against the Rebels), Jordie Barrett his 23rd and Julian Savea his (disputed) 59th. What is not in dispute though is it was Savea’s seventh against the Rebels which is the Hurricanes record for an individual against that side.  Included in his total are three in the match at Wellington in 2012 and two at Wellington last year.

Julian Savea also is the new Hurricanes record holder for the most matches played against the Rebels. He has made eight appearances, one more than TJ Perenara and Jeffery To’omaga-Allen.

As well as scoring a try Jordie Barrett kicked five conversions, his 15 points in the match taking his total for the season to 103. He is the first player to reach a century of points in 2022. He also brought up 100 Super Rugby points in 2017 (133 in 17 matches) and again in 2021 (151 in 13 matches). Barrett also reached 600 points for the Hurricanes when he converted the fourth try (James Blackwell’s) and now sits on 609 points, in 83 matches.

Te Kamaka Howden became the 21st different player to start a match at No 8 and the third to do so this year. His previous four starts had been at Flanker. He, along with Du’Plessis Kirifi and Blake Gibson, combined to make up the seventh different Flanker/No 8/Flanker combination to start a match in 2022.

Kirifi played his 50th match for the Hurricanes. He made his debut against the Waratahs at Sydney in February 2019 and is the 56th player to reach the milestone.

Julian Savea and Josh Moorby made up the 75th different starting wing combination.

Another previously untried combination was Tyrel Lomax, James O’Reilly and Tevita Mafileo who made up the eighth different front row to be used this year.

Of the 23 players who took the field against the Rebels, 12 of them had not previously appeared against them.

After 10 matches a total of 97 have now made at least one appearance for the Hurricanes against that franchise.

Two current Hurricanes players made their Super Rugby debut for the Rebels. Jackson Garden-Bachop and Tyrel Lomax actually debuted in the same match: against the Blues at Melbourne in 2017 and both made 13 appearances for their franchise. The former moved to the Hurricanes in 2018 whereas Lomax moved the same year to the Highlanders before transferring to the Hurricanes in 2020.

In his own right, TJ Perenara captained the Hurricanes for the 36th time, one more occasion than did Tana Umaga between 2003 and 2007. Only Conrad Smith (61 times) and Rodney So’oialo (49 times) have done so more often than Perenara.

Lukas Ripley scored all three of the Rebels tries to set a new record for most tries by an individual in a match against the Hurricanes. The previous record of two tries was held by Alister Campbell (at Melbourne in 2011) and Cooper Vuna (at Wellington in 2012). Ripley and Vuna now share the Rebels record for most tries against the Hurricanes with three apiece. Ripley is also the new record holder for most points in a match against the Hurricanes with 15. The previous holder of that record was Jack Debreczeni whose 14 points were made
up of one conversion and four penalties: at Melbourne in March 2018.

The other point scorer in this match was Matt To’omua with two conversions and a penalty. With his second conversion he brought up 1000 points by all Australian sides in matches against the Hurricanes in New Zealand.

Due to the ‘flu there were five late changes to the Hurricanes line-up. Asafo Aumua, Jamie Booth, Dane Coles, Wes Goosen and Salesi Rayasi were those affected.

This week was the Cultural Round and before the match started the Hurricanes performed their haka. It is titled Te Ara a Tawhiri which means the Path of Tawhiri (God of Wind). Billy Proctor was given the honour of being the leader on the day.