Hurricanes breeze into Super Rugby final
A routine 29-9 win over Brumbies saw Hurricanes reach their first Super Rugby final for nine years.
Hurricanes eased into the Super Rugby final on Saturday with a comfortable 29-9 win over Brumbies in Wellington.
Having lost only two games in the regular season as they topped the overall table, Hurricanes justified their position as title favourites with a confident performance in front of a sell-out crowd at the Westpac Stadium.
Brothers Julian and Ardie Savea each crossed for tries, while TJ Perenara and Matt Proctor also scored to send Hurricanes through to next Saturday's showpiece.
Australian outfit Brumbies - who finished sixth but beat Stormers 39-19 in a qualifier last week - rarely looked like pulling off a comeback after falling behind, with their quest for a third Super Rugby title coming to an end.
Chris Boyd's Hurricanes will now host either Waratahs or Highlanders as they bid to be crowned champions for the first time.
Despite dominating proceedings early on, Hurricanes struggled to find a way through the Brumbies defence due to a string of early handling errors.
But the deadlock was finally broken in the 20th minute as Beauden Barrett and Ma'a Nonu combined to set up winger Julian Savea, who crashed over in the left corner.
Barrett failed to convert but made no mistake eight minutes later, after Hurricanes had seen a potential try chalked off by the TMO. Nehe Milner-Skudder burst down the right and fired a brilliant pass to James Marshall, who then fed TJ Perenara to race over the line.
Brumbies full-back Jesse Mogg reduced the deficit to 12-3 with a penalty on the stroke of half-time but Hurricanes strengthened their grip on the contest two minutes after the restart through Ardie Savea.
The flanker touched down at the end of a powerful rolling maul from a lineout, with Marshall adding the extras to make it 19-3.
Two Christian Leali'ifano penalties gave Brumbies a glimmer of hope, but Marshall knocked over a three-pointer for Hurricanes, who then put the gloss on a fine display with another demonstration of their attacking prowess.
Nonu surged clear and, although he was eventually hauled down by the scrambling Brumbies defence, Hurricanes quickly worked the ball out wide for Proctor to cross and seal his side's place in the final for the first time since 2006.