[Source:Super Rugby Pacific/Facebook]
The Hurricanes are the first team to confirm their place in the Super Rugby Pacific semifinals after walloping the ACT Brumbies 66-12 in their quarterfinal clash in Wellington under challenging conditions.
The win also means that the Hurricanes will host one of the two semifinals while the Brumbies’ season is over following one of the biggest routs in Super Rugby history.
It was raining tries as well in the New Zealand capital, with halfback Cam Roigard scoring a double and with tries to Caleb Delany, Walter Dearns, and Billy Proctor completing a demolition of the first half. The visitors struck back through a try to Corey Toole, and grabbed a second long-range effort to Tane Edmed.
The Brumbies needed to produce a win here to keep their finals hopes alive, but have had no answers to a high-flying Hurricanes side, not only conceding the most points ever in their history in the first half (38), but also copping the heaviest Super Rugby finals loss in Australian history.
But from then on, it was all as the hosts, scoring four more second-half tries, with Dearns nabbing his second and Ngane Punivai scoring a second-half hat-trick to make the result one for the record books.
It ended an ugly night of records being broken for the visitors, marking just the fifth time they’d had more than 50 points put on them, and then becoming the heaviest loss in their history, beating out their 46-7 loss to the Blues in 2024.
