Hurricanes to unleash ‘devil’s henchmen’ in Super 14 final

The Wellington Hurricanes have sounded the battle cry ”Get McCaw” as they set their plan to target the All Blacks captain in the Super 14 rugby final against the Canterbury Crusaders at Jade Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday.

The Crusaders have played in seven of the past eight finals, and won five of them, and the Hurricanes are well aware if they are to cause an upset in their first final they will have to nullify Richie McCaw and his disruptive influence at the breakdown.

Matches between the arch-rivals are renowned for their ill-feeling, none more so than in this year’s round-robin clash, won by the Crusaders 20-11, where the Hurricanes singled out McCaw for special attention.

At one breakdown, frustrated Hurricanes backrower Jerry Collins hurled the ball at McCaw’s head, while prop Neemia Tialata was later caught on camera trying to throttle McCaw at the bottom of a ruck.

The fact that Collins and Tialata are likely to be named the morning after the final in the All Blacks squad of 39, under McCaw’s leadership, will have no bearing on how they perform when the stakes are high on Saturday night.

The aggressive Collins, Rodney So’oialo and Chris Masoe, known in the Hurricanes camp as the ”devil’s henchmen”, form a formidable loose trio who relish physical contact and coach Colin Cooper has made it clear the Crusaders’ number 7 is their target.

”We have to be really smart about how we take the ball into contact. If we aren’t, McCaw will rip us apart,” Cooper told the Dominion Post newspaper.

After McCaw caused mayhem with the Hurricanes’ ball-flow earlier this year, the Wellington franchise singled out the devastating Wallabies flanker Phil Waugh for ”McCaw practice” in their two clashes with the New South Wales Waratahs in recent weeks, and declared themselves satisfied they have found the answer to retaining possession at the breakdown.

”We’ve improved in looking after the ball and taking it into contact, and we’re better at reading what’s in front of us. We’re also more composed,” Cooper said.

The pre-match hype from Wellington has not been lost on the Crusaders, who know the team that dominates the breakdown will likely claim the title.

”The Hurricanes will be really niggly at the breakdown and that’s something that’s going be the winning or losing of the game for us really,” Crusaders winger Scott Hamilton told the XtraMSN website.

”I’m sure there will be a bit of bleating this week about how Richie plays the game … but he’s not going to change. He’s still going to do the stuff he does, because turnovers are very important to us and also putting phases together.”

In the latter stages of the season, Crusaders coach Robbie Deans fielded a mobile pack, moving Reuben Thorne into the second row, but Thorne is back to his regular side-row position for the final as the defending champions prepare for an intense showdown.

”Whenever we play Wellington that’s the thing we talk about — how we have to front up at ruck time because we know they’re going to bring intensity and they’re such naturally big guys and tough to move,” Hamilton said.

The Crusaders, who have been the benchmark side for Super rugby for several years, will start as favourites, but Hurricanes centre Ma’a Nonu said there was a simmering confidence in the underdog’s camp if they can get the ball wide.

”Possibly, if we can win enough ball,” Nonu said when asked if he thought the Hurricanes could win the game through their midfield.

”Hopefully they don’t pinch it [the ball] all the time, [and] the No 7 [McCaw] doesn’t get in there too much.” — AFP

Teams:

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (RSA).