Rebels crushed by Hurricanes as Kiwi stranglehold continues

It started off as a fairytale, quickly turned into a reality check and finished up as a full-blown nightmare.

Hurricanes winger Ben Lam touches down for a try against the Rebels at AAMI Park. Picture: AAP

It started off as a fairytale, quickly turned into a reality check and finished up as a full-blown nightmare as the Hurricanes won the first trans-Tasman clash of 2018, sweeping aside the Melbourne Rebels 50-19 at AAMI Park last night.

That is now 33 times the New Zealanders have beaten Australian teams in 33 matches, dating back to May 27, 2016 when the Waratahs inflicted a 45-25 victory over the Chiefs. Since then the Australian angst has risen and risen as side after side fell foul of their Kiwi opponents but there was genuine hope that the Rebels, with four wins from their first five matches, might have the personnel to match it with the side from Wellington.

Initially it looked grim as the Hurricanes jumped out to an 8-3 lead, courtesy of a Ben Lam try in the ninth minute, no one realising just how familiar a sight that would become as the latest whiz kid All Blacks contender dotted the ball down in the corner courtesy of some Barrett-Barrett magic.

Beauden had set his brother Jordie loose on the left after Rebels fullback Jack Maddocks had been stripped of the ball as he ran it out from behind his own posts and suddenly Lam was over.

But then Jack Debreczeni discovered his kicking boots, reclaimed the club’s points scoring record from Reece Hodge with four straight penalty goals and the Melbourne side found themselves somewhat self-consciously 12-8 in front.

Normally the Rebels might have frozen at that point but when lock Matt Phillip found the line at the second attempt in the 30th minute after centre Billy Meakes was ruled not to have knocked-on at the previous phase, the scoreboard registered a 19-8 lead to the Australian conference leaders.

At this point in proceedings the Rebels should have thrown everything into the attack. Instead, inexplicably, they stood and watched. Bad move.

Except for No 8 Amanaki Mafi, who continued to play as he had from the kick-off — awesomely!

It could not be fairly said that the Japanese Test player enjoys taking the ball into contact. Rather, he revels in it and at times before he launched himself headlong into the defence he would rear up in sheer delight, like a wild brumby sniffing battle, before charging into the thickest concentration of tacklers he could find.

Sadly, not everyone showed the same flair in rushing headlong into collisions.

Debreczeni, moving to cover a Beauden Barrett crosskick, took the punt and allowed the ball to bounce.

Sure enough, it took the standard NZ bounce, defying the laws of motion by ricocheting infield, straight into the arms of Lam who, having been there once, already knew his way to the tryline.

Another try right on the stroke of halftime by Barrett senior, dummying his way past a bewildered Phillip, took the score on the break to 25-19, as the Rebels scratched their heads and wondered how their rivals had put just 17 points on them in an effortless 10 minutes.

Pity they didn’t find the answer because the second-half procession became even worse. The Hurricanes scored five tries after the break, Lam finished with four for the match, and the men from the NZ national capital brought up their first half-century ever on Australian soil, eclipsing their 47-29 win over the Queensland Reds 21 years ago.

The Australian challenge had been crushed once again. Judging by the ease with which it was accomplished against arguably the best side in the Australian conference, it could again be a long and miserable winter.