[Source: 1News]

Fiji-born Kini Naholo scored a double to help the Hurricanes thrash Moana Pasifika 71-22 in the Super Rugby Pacific.

The Hurricanes have ensured there would be no back-to-back upsets this afternoon with their shock loss in Suva last week to the Fijian Drua, the Hurricanes blew out the competition’s other Pacific side in Wellington largely thanks to 42 unanswered points in the second half spearheaded by an Ardie Savea hat-trick.

The scoreline is a tough blow for the winless Moana Pasifika who looked as though they were building on their heartbreaking last-gasp loss last week to the Blues with another gritty performance.

It certainly didn’t start that way with the Hurricanes scoring in second minute through Billy Proctor but Moana Pasifika responded two minutes later to lock up the scores.

Three quick tries to the Hurricanes after that suggested a blowout was on but again Moana Pasifika fought their way back into the contest, metre by metre, carry by carry and ended up only down by 10 points at the break.

Unfortunately for Moana Pasifika though the Hurricanes had identified an area of weakness and were clinical in exposing it after the break, leading to a flood of points.

Time and time again the Hurricanes managed to take the match to the set piece and time and time again they were rewarded with either front-foot ball or straight-up penalties.

That gave the Hurricanes the platform they needed to attack with pace and Moana Pasifika simply couldn’t keep up.

In fact, five of the Hurricanes’ seven in the backline carried for at least 50 metres in the match – including a strong all-round performance from winger Kini Naholo – and they were almost matched by wrecking ball Savea at No.8.

After opening the scoring for his side in the second half with a pick-and-go near the line, Savea finished the scoring spree with two impressive tries in the final 10 minutes, selling a slick dummy to burst through the defence for his second try before bursting through a would-be tackler and gassing for the corner for his third.

It capped another impressive performance from the Hurricanes talisman and left Moana Pasifika wondering what could have been after a promising start.

The visitors looked dangerous whenever they made their way into the Hurricanes’ 22 but they struggled to get there unless their opponents’ discipline was helping them.

It’s a story unfortunately that Moana Pasifika has heard all-too-well this season, leaving them with their 11th-straight defeat and ending any feint hopes they had of a miracle run into the top eight.

Hurricanes 71 (Ardie Savea 3, Kini Naholo 2, Billy Proctor, Jordie Barrett, Aidan Morgan, Jacob Devery, Salesi Rayasi, Caleb Delany tries; Jordie Barrett 8 con)

Moana Pasifika 22 (Henry Taefu, Anzelo Tuitavuki, Danny Toala tries; Lincoln McClutchie 2 con, 1 pen)

HT: 29-19

[Source: 1News]