SUVA, Fiji (AP) — The Wellington-based Hurricanes overcame a poor second half in which they incurred three yellow cards to beat the Fijian Drua 38-15 in Super Rugby Pacific on Friday, stretching their winning start to the season to eight matches and ending the Drua’s unbeaten record at home.
The first-place Hurricanes were impressive in the first half, scoring four tries to lead 28-7 at halftime.
But their game started to fall apart in the second half and they spent almost 10 minutes with 13 men when DuPlessis Kirifi and Isaia Walker-Leawere were sin-binned in the 64th and 65th minutes. Replacement prop Caleb Delany also received a yellow card two minutes before fulltime.
In the other match Friday, the Queensland Reds beat the Dunedin, New Zealand-based Highlanders 31-0 at Brisbane. Coming off three losses in a row and missing four frontline players in Tate McDermott, Fraser McReight, Josh Flook and Seru Uru, Queensland dominated the match with Hunter Paisami, Ryan Smith, Lawson Creighton and Suliasi Vunivalu scoring tries in a bonus-point win.
The Drua were unable to get into the game in the first half because of errors, turnovers and penalties. That situation was reversed in the second half as the Hurricanes, tiring in the heat, couldn’t hold onto possession and were heavily penalized, though their defense mostly held firm.
The Drua reduced the Hurricanes lead with a try to scrumhalf Kitione Salawa early in the second half. But they were only able to score three points — a penalty to Kemu Valetini — when the Hurricanes were two men down.
Peni Matavalu was held up over the Hurricanes goal line in what might have been a pivotal moment.
Returned to full strength, the Hurricanes extended their lead with a penalty to Aidan Morgan. They finished with a try to Xavier Numia after the fulltime siren and while down to 14 men.
“It just shows that over here you’ve got to go the full 80 minutes,” Hurricanes captain Brad Shields said. “It was a good test of our character.
“We talked about it during the week, that it was going to be about the effort early. We didn’t think we were going to be down to 13. But it did show good character, the way we held it together on the line and connected on defense.”
The Hurricanes opened the scoring with a try after seven minutes to center Billy Proctor from a speculative in-field kick from Salesi Rayasi.
The Drua scored minutes later through young flyhalf Isikeli Rabitu to draw level. But the Hurricanes opened a 21-point lead by halftime with tries to backrower Devon Flanders, center Jordie Barrett and hooker James O’Reilly.
Salawa scored from a lineout drive in the 46th minute as the Drua began to get on top, bringing a crowd of 15,000 at the National Stadium to life. The Hurricanes grimly held on, even when outnumbered and gradually the Drua’s ascendancy faded.
The Drua have won three home matches this season in Lautoka. This was their first match in Suva and their first home defeat of the year.
They return to Lautoka next week for a crucial match against Moana Pasifika as they attempt to hold onto a place in the top eight playoff zone.
The Hurricanes suffered a major blow when they lost hooker Asafo Aumua to a knee injury.
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