By John McBride | Posted: Wednesday August 9, 2017
Super Rugby, Semi Final 2, 2017, Lions v Hurricanes
On Saturday 29 July, the Lions hosted the Hurricanes at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg, for the second Super Rugby semifinal. The Hurricanes suffered a humiliating defeat going down 44-29.
The Hurricanes came out of the starting blocks with all guns blazing. TJ Perenara scored the first try of the match showcasing some insane soccer skills. Ardie Savea pulled off an incredible individual breakaway try and Wes Goosen finished a team effort of fancy manoeuvers to extend the Hurricanes lead out to 22-3. The Lions dotted down just before the half to bring it to 22-10 at halftime.
The Lions scored twice after the break and managed to level the scores at 22 all with 30 minutes remaining. The turning point in the game was when Beauden Barrett received a yellow card. Against only 14 men the Lions were in the zone and thrashed through the front lines running in a hat trick of uncontested tries before the final whistle. The Hurricanes managed one more try but it was too little too late.
In our opinion Beauden Barrett’s sin bin was the defining moment that led to the Hurricanes loss. The Lions proved themselves to be extremely strong at home and will likely be the favourites in the final this weekend.
A combined piece of sports analysis and writing by the Tama Tahi & Tama Rua teams