0 Reviewing the Hammer era

The Mark "Hammer" Hammett era at the Hurricanes is over. The 'Canes failed by a single competition point to make the play-offs this year, giving Hammett the perfect record that no coach would want; four years, and four times missing the post-season.

Toby Robson from the Dom-Post takes a look at the Hammer Era. Under the headline Hammer failed to nail it at Hurricanes Robson opines:

Mark Hammett slipped at the start line and never fully recovered.
A pity because the man known as Hammer showed himself to be a good bloke, a hard worker who genuinely cared for his players and his team.
His coaching ability during his four years in charge was less certain.
Hammett will probably become a very good head coach if he isn't one already, but Hurricanes fans shouldn't have had to watch him perform his apprenticeship.
He will likely acknowledge in hindsight that he wasn't quite ready to leap from Crusaders assistant to Hurricanes head honcho in 2011.
A more experienced head coach may have handled the departures of then captain Andrew Hore and 100-game Hurricane Ma'a Nonu with a little more tact.
Hammett's principles and intentions might have been admirable, but the execution of such a big change was poor from all involved and it hung over his efforts for the next three years.
Fairly or not, those early events will be the historical reference point for a period that saw the Hurricanes finish ninth, eighth, 11th and seventh with a winning percentage of just 46 per cent.
The appointment of veteran coaches Chris Boyd and John Plumtree as Hammett's successors suggest lessons  have been learned.

Mark Hammett clearly felt under pressure to "sort out" perceived discipline issues in the Hurricanes in his first season. To a degree, that was one of his biggest successes, as the team was far more disciplined in the three seasons that followed. But the Hurricanes were simply not consistent enough, even if on their best days they were unbeatable.

Robson does have some kind things to say about Hammett though; read on:

Results aside, Hammett deserves credit for having the guts to take a punt and shift north to Wellington from Christchurch.
He had the fortitude to make some tough calls at a franchise that had slipped into bad habits.
Technically, his players have praised his abilities there is healthy buzz around the Newtown training base where hard work has never been hard to find.
But consistency of performance has not matched the talk or the talent.
Selections often frustrated and confused. Last season it was the promotion of Tusi Pisi ahead of Beauden Barrett at first five-eighth against the Blues, a year earlier the resting of key players during a home loss to the lowly Cheetahs.
This year it was the early season preference of the work-man-like Adam Hill over Faifili Levave and Ardie Savea at loose forward, the non-selection of Andre Taylor at fullback, then the use of Cardiff Vaega at second five-eighth against the Brumbies when Alapati Leiua was the obvious midfield choice.
Leiua's move to the midfield was a major success, but probably a season too late.
Late season injuries to Victor Vito, Levave, Taylor, Leiua and Conrad Smith hurt the Hurricanes as they lost to the Chiefs to come up one bonus point short of their first playoff berth since 2009. 

Mark Hammett's tenure as Hurricanes head coach may not have produced the on-field results that he, his players and the franchise's management wanted. But he leaves the Hurricanes in good hear, with a core of young players such as Julian and Ardie Savea, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Dane Coles, Blade Thompson and Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen. They will form the nucleus of Chris Boyd's first Hurricanes squad in 2015.

Hammett brought change to the Hurricanes, especially in the franchise's culture. For that, at least, he should be thanked. But professional sport is all about results on the field, and by any measure, Hammett's tenure has been a failure. We live in hope that Chris Boyd and John Plumtree can achieve success on the field, and that the Hurricanes may in fact break their Super Rugby duck in our lifetime, but we won't hold our breath. 

Nor however will we stop supporting them; after all, we've supported the New Zealand cricket team for more than 50 years!

0 What a night!

With She Who Must Be Obeyed otherwise engaged, we had control of the remote last night. And on a wintry night, we parked ourselves on the sofa in expectation of a terrific night of winter sport watching.

First up was the Highlanders vs Crusaders match from Dunedin. This 'southern derby" was hyped up all week, and that's not always a good omen. But on this occasion, the match more than lived up to the build-up. The Crusaders prevailed 32-30, with a crucial last-second TMO decision going (correctly, in our ever-considered opinion) their way. Patrick Osborne was ruled to have simultaneously grounded the ball of the touchline and goalline in Israel Dagg's desperate tackle. It was a fitting end to a magnificent game of rugby.

Then our plans went awry; the rain, lightning and thunder had been intermittent from kickoff in the Dunedin match, but just as the Hurricanes vs Chiefs match was kicking off, Sky went into rain fade mode. We can only conclude that this was the culprit:

As the rain poured down outside, and as thunder shook the whare a few times the TV coverage came and went. We followed progress on Twitter, where we were reminded of the Sky Go facility. Each time however as we logged in on the iPad the TV coverage would be restored, only to go into rain fade again the moment we switched the iPad off! If you're thinking "first world problems" you'd be right, but we did have an entertaining Twitter exchange with Green Party activist Toad, who revealed that he has his live stream set to go on his big TV for emergencies such as this!

But when the final whistle blew, the Hurricanes had blown away the Chiefs by an amazing scoreline of 45 to 8, playing some sublime rugby in windy conditions. The two-time champion Chiefs were simply outgunned last night.

Those two results have thrown the New Zealand conference wide open; here's the points table as at this morning:

Super Rugby is facing a radical revamp, with fewer local derbies. After last night's local derby action, we'd have to question whether Sanzar is doing the right thing. And with four South African sides in the bottom seven, will a sixth South African side add anything to the competition? We have our doubts.

The night wasn't over however. The Vodafone Warriors rounded things off with a 24-16 away victory over Gold Coast. Andrew McFadden has the team playing a more solid style of league, and the Warriors are looking far more consistent. They sit just outside the top eight at the moment, but the table is very congested. The Warriors return to the spiritual home Mt Smart Stadium next weekend, and we're planning a visit in July.

It was a remarkable night of football last night, but there was one thing that shone out like a beacon. A bitter southerly gale blew through Dunedin a couple of hours before kick-off at Forsyth Barr, but under the roof conditions were near perfect. With night-time rugby now an embedded feature of the fixture list, the Christchurch City Council would be mad if they didn't replicate Forsyth Barr stadium when they build a football-only stadium in the city to replace the quake-damaged AMI Stadium.

0 Who'd have ever thunk it?

When the Hurricanes lost their first three matched of the Super XV season, even seasoned fans like us were thinking "not again". The Hurricanes have been Super Rugby's underachievers, promising much, but failing to deliver.

Six matches later however, who would have ever predicted this:

Yes Dear Readers; by virtue of sitting atop the New Zealand conference at the moment, the Hurricanes sit third on the table, even though the Force side has scored more competition points. They have won five of their last six, including the last four on the trot where they have dispatched the Crusaders, Bulls, Blues, and last night the Reds.

And they are playing wonderful rugby. Cory Jane was the chief beneficiary last night with three tries, the first after some brilliant lead-up work and inter-passing. Check out the match highlights here:

The Hurricanes are certainly the form New Zealand outfit as the Aaron Cruden-less Chiefs stutter. What a contrast the end of April is to early March!

0 Photo of the Day - 19 April 2014

The look of glee on TJ Perenara's face says it all. 

The Hurricanes halfback was on the end of a sweeping 80 metre move on the way to his side's bonus point against the Blues in Wellington last night. The Hurricanes won, 39-20.

With four wins in their last five matches including their last three in a row, the Hurricanes are playing some wonderful rugby. Last night's win took the side to fifth on the competition table, and second place in the New Zealand conference.

There's still a lot of rugby to be played, but the Hurricanes are playing a terrific brand. We might just have to plan a trip to Wellington on May 24th to watch their clash with the Chiefs.