Cape Town - The Hurricanes beat the Chiefs in yet another thrilling New Zealand Super Rugby derby in Wellington on Friday.
As it happened: Hurricanes v Chiefs
The Hurricanes won 25-13 after leading 10-6 at half-time.
The Hurricanes' backline was once again at its awesome best and were responsible for all three of the home sides tries, through wing Ben Lam, flyhalf Beauden Barrett and centre Ngani Laumape. Fullback Jordie Barrett added two conversions and two penalties.
To their credit, and despite a frightening injury toll which was added to as loosehead prop Aidan Ross was carted off the field early in the first half, the Chiefs fought to the bitter end, but were ultimately denied a losing bonus point for their efforts - but did in turn deny the Hurricanes a winning bonus point.
The Chiefs managed a solitary try through flank Lachlan Boshier and a conversion and two penalties by flyhalf Damian McKenzie who passed a late fitness test.
The Hurricanes' victory moved them to the top of both the New Zealand Conference and the Overall standings, while the Chiefs remained third and fifth in both logs, respectively.
In next weekend's Round 10 action, the Hurricanes have a bye, while the Chiefs travel to Brisbane to play the Reds (Saturday, April 21 at 11:45 SA time).
Teams:
Hurricanes
15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Vince Aso, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Jamie Booth, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Sam Henwood, 6 Brad Shields (captain), 5 Michael Fatialofa, 4 Vaea Fifita, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Toby Smith
Substitutes: 16 James O'Reilly, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Ben May, 19 Murray Douglas, 20 Reed Prinsep, 21 Richard Judd, 22 Ihaia West, 23 Wes Goosen
Chiefs
15 Charlie Ngatai (co-captain), 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Johnny Fa'auli, 11 Solomon Alaimalo, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 8 Taleni Seu, 7 Sam Cane (co-captain), 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Michael Allardice, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta'avao-Matau, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Aidan Ross
Substitutes: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Karl Tu'inukuafe, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Luke Jacobson, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Jonathan Taumateine, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Alex Nankivell