Hurricanes Quarter-final v Brumbies Stat Attack

Hurricanes players celebrate another try, including Jordie Barrett, who between himself and his brother Beauden, has topped the point scoring list for the Hurricanes in every one of the last 11 years, and TJ Perenara, who became the first Hurricane to play 150 matches for the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes missed out 25-35 to the Brumbies in Canberra this past Saturday night – in their final match of the year. Some facts and figures from the game below, by Peter Marriott.

Quarter-final v Brumbies: Lost 25-35

Having lost 25-42 in their earlier Round Robin match, the Hurricanes and the Brumbies have now met on 29 occasions. This was the Brumbies 17th win, the Hurricanes have won 12 times.

The Hurricanes have lost their last four matches in a row against the Brumbies, in Australia. Their previous worst sequence was three in succession between 2011 and 2016.

The Hurricanes have experienced their first loss in a Quarter-final having won their previous four in 2016, 2017 (against the Brumbies in Canberra), 2018 and 2019.

The Hurricanes have lost their last two matches of the season for the first time since 2013, when they actually lost the last five.
The Hurricanes have now played 52 matches in Australia. They have won 26 and lost 26.

The Hurricanes have lost their last two matches in a row in Australia. They have lost two in a row on four previous occasions but have actually lost three in a row on several occasions when spread over two seasons, or in one case three. This year they played five matches in Australia, two more than the previous record of three matches in 2016 and 2017.

The Hurricanes loss against the Brumbies was their 100th in all matches played away from home venues. For the record those losses have been against the Blues (10), Brumbies (12), Bulls (six), Cheetahs (two), Chiefs (10), Crusaders (17), Force (two), Highlanders (nine), Lions (four), Moana Pasifika (one), Reds (four), Rebels (one), Sharks (seven), Stormers (eight) and the Waratahs (seven).

And on which ground have the Hurricanes lost the most matches? The answer: all 12 matches against the Brumbies were played at the GIO Stadium in Canberra.

The Hurricanes lost their final match of the season for the 22nd time in 27 years of competition. Having been beaten in their first match of 2022, they have now lost both their opening and closing match of the same season 14 times. Coincidentally their first match this year was also lost by 10 points: 32-42 against the Crusaders in Dunedin.

The Hurricanes have scored 25 points in a match on 18 occasions including twice against the Brumbies this year. The number of times this number of points have been scored by the Hurricanes has only been exceeded by the 24 times they have scored 29 points in a match.
The Hurricanes started the match with their most experienced run-on side ever in terms of Super Rugby caps.

Between them they totalled 1102 caps with five players having appeared in over 100 matches and four others in 50 or more matches.

Josh Moorby scored both of the Hurricanes tries, the third time this season he has scored two or more tries in the same match. They took him to nine for the year, two more than the second highest try scorer, Salesi Rayasi with seven.

In scoring those nine tries Moorby established a new Hurricanes record for most tries in a players’ debut year. Christian Cullen was the first record-holder with seven tries in 1996, the first year of Super Rugby. However, it was not until 2020 that his record was broken by the former Sharks and Stormers player Kobus van Wykwho only stayed for one season but in his eight matches scored eight tries.

Jordie Barrett kicked five penalties to take his total points for the season to 118. The Hurricanes had not kicked five penalties since their match against the Crusaders at Christchurch in July 2020. The total number of penalties kicked this season was 18 which is the same number that were kicked in 2008, 2018 and 2021.

Only once have fewer penalties been kicked: 13 in 2017. The record is 44, in 2011.

Barrett has now been the top point scorer for the Hurricanes on four occasions including the last three years in a row. Jordie, together with brother Beauden, whose final year with the franchise was 2019, have between them topped the point scoring list for the Hurricanes in every one of the last 11 years. Their combined total of 1862 Super Rugby points represents 18.1% of the total points scored by the Hurricanes in all of their 376 matches.

Salesi Rayasi was issued with his fourth yellow card of the season and second in successive matches. He is not the only Hurricanes player to incur four yellow cards during the same season. In 2017 Beauden Barrett was also issued with four although two were handed out in the same match, against the Waratahs at Wellington, which automatically became a red card.

The Hurricanes received a total of 10 yellow cards this year: just two in their first eight matches but eight in the next seven.

The back row of Blake Gibson, Ardie Savea and Du’Plessis Kirifi were another new combination and are the ninth different one to be used this season.

Similarly, the front row of Tevita Mafileo, Dane Coles and Owen Franks was yet another new combination and the 10th different one to be used in 2022.

In this match TJ Perenara became the first Hurricanes player to bring up 150 Super Rugby appearances. He made his debut against the Stormers at Cape Town on 25 February 2012 when he came off the bench to replace Chris Eaton. Of the six others who made their debut in that match just one, Ben May, also made an appearance this year. He, in fact, made two to bring up 100 Super Rugby matches for the franchise.

Perenara reached his milestone in 10 years and 100 days and along the way missed 29 matches but that included the entire 2021 season which comprised of 13 matches. Many have now played 150 or more Super Rugby matches and Perenara is the third Halfback to do so after Andrew Ellis of the Crusaders and Aaron Smith of the Highlanders.

Of the 150 matches played by TJ Perenara, he has won 96, lost 53 and drawn one. He has started in 142 of them and scored 58 tries, plus a conversion, for a total of 292 points. In his own right he has captained the side on 37 occasions for 27 wins and 10 losses. Winning percentage wise (73%) he is the Hurricanes most successful captain who has led the side three or more times.

Julian Savea is second on the list of most matches played for the Hurricanes. He has now made 142 appearances including one non Super Rugby match against the British & Irish Lions in 2017.

Asafo Aumua, Owen Franks and Josh Moorby all played their first match for the Hurricanes against the Brumbies. This was Aumua’s 45th match overall. A total of 206 Hurricanes players have now made at least one appearance in a match against the Brumbies.

Dane Coles, Perenara and Julian Savea each played their 11th match against the Brumbies. Only Tana Umaga, with 13 appearances, has played in more matches for the Hurricanes against the Brumbies.

The four try scorers for the Brumbies were Folau Fainga’a (his 35th overall), Irae Simone (12th), Tom Banks (36th) and Tom Wright. All but Simone had previously scored a try against the Hurricanes. Fainga’a had dotted down at Canberra in 2018 and at Palmerston North in 2019, Wright had also scored at Palmerston North whilst Banks had earlier scored in Canberra during this year’s Round Robin match.
Fainga’a’s try was the 150th to be conceded by the Hurricanes in all their matches played in Australia.

Noah Lolesio kicked 13 points and with the 17 he picked up during the earlier Round Robin match, he was the top points scorer from all opposition sides against the Hurricanes in 2022, with 30 points.

Len Ikitau became the first Brumbies player to receive a red card this season and the second to be awarded one which counted against the Hurricanes: the Highlanders Josh Dickson saw red in Dunedin earlier in Round 9.

In 27 seasons of Super Rugby the Hurricanes have played 376 matches for 213 wins, 157 losses and six draws. They played 15 matches in 2022 for seven wins and eight losses. They entered the season with an overall winning percentage rate of 56.78: they finished with an overall winning percentage rate of 56.64.