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Sherwin Stowers in action for the Blues. - Source: Photosport -
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Six tries to one is a tough stat to spin, but Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett's not doing negative after starting Super Rugby's toughest rebuild with a 36-22 loss in Whangarei yesterday.
Pre-season matches are fraught when it comes to scorelines and mean little to nothing once the season begins, but coaches focus on detail and Hammett liked most of what he saw.
"I'm really happy. It's our first hit-out, so obviously there were a few new combinations, but the urgency, the work rate was outstanding," he said.
"We had a lot of ball early on and maybe didn't use it very well, but it's an easy fix."
The Hurricanes solitary try went to wing Julian Savea with pivots Dan Kirkpatrick and Beauden Barrett (4) adding five penalties between them, but Hammett was making no apologies for taking the points on offer.
"We have a lot of new players in our group and some of our young guys are going to be kicking goals against the Stormers at Newlands in a few weeks, so they need to get used to that in a game situation.
"I told our captains to play it as a normal game situation and they did that well."
No8 Victor Vito captained a side filled out with members of the wider training group for most of the match with Cory Jane taking over for the final 20 minutes from fullback.
The Hurricanes trailed 26-3 at halftime and Hammett admitted they had got their tactics wrong from lineouts into the wind, running into the Blues defensive trap in the backs.
Once an adjustment had been made in the third quarter the Hurricanes closed to 26-22, dominating the third quarter, before conceding two late tries to inflate the margin.
Hammett rated his team's efforts an 8 out of 10 and was particularly pleased with the scrum, the lineout, kickoff and general work of his locks, and the fitness levels of the squad.
"We finished strongly. They worked their butts off but had plenty of energy left and that was a real positive.
"There were a few tries, but two of them were intercepts and one was what I thought was an easy lineout drive when they kicked a penalty to touch, so there was 19 points there.
"The scrum went really well. We've put a lot of work into it. Dan Cron has got the guys working really well technically."
There were no serious injury concerns to come out of the match though flanker Brad Shields is having checks on a sore shoulder and Kirkpatrick has a black eye.
The Hurricanes will get a boost today when they welcome back new captain Conrad Smith from his post-World Cup break, while back Tim Bateman's arrival from Japan is likely in the next fortnight.
The Hurricanes next warmup match is against the Crusaders at Mangatainoka on Saturday.
