Following the Hurricanes\u2019 66-12 qualifying finals victory over the Brumbies, here are our five takeaways from the Super Rugby Pacific knockout match.<\/p>\n
The top line<\/p>\n
A battering, canning and dominant Hurricanes<\/a> display as they humiliated the Brumbies<\/a> by breaking the Bulls\u2019 17-year-long record by scoring 66 points, eclipsing the men from Pretoria\u2019s 61-17 hammering of the Chiefs in the 2009 final. The New Zealanders<\/a> have been the leading team in the competition this year, and today was yet another statement of intent, running in nine tries to the Australians<\/a>\u2018 two.<\/p>\n The \u2018Canes scored at will in the first half with Caleb Delany troubling the scorekeepers in the sixth minute and was swiftly followed by Cameron Roigard, who crossed three minutes later. Further scores from Billy Proctor and Warner Dearns saw the hosts surge into a 31-point lead before the Brumbies finally mustered a reply through Corey Toole.<\/p>\n However, it was the dominant Hurricanes who had the final say of the half as Roigard completed his brace with the hosts falling two points shy of a point-a-minute in the opening stanza. After receiving the Stephen Larkham hairdryer treatment at the break, the Brumbies were somewhat more competitive during the opening knockings of the second half, but again, it was the \u2018Canes who struck first with Dearns doubling his tally.<\/p>\n Tane Edmed got one back for the visitors in the 51st minute, but that was the final try of the season for the Brumbies as the Hurricanes found their rhythm again in the final quarter. The men from Wellington scored in the 59th, 70th and 76th with Ngani Punivai running in a hat-trick to add insult to the Brumbies\u2019 injury.<\/p>\n World Rugby issues law clarification after New Zealand Rugby request: \u2018The contest is clearly over\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Hurricanes a different class<\/p>\n There was a clear gulf in quality today as the Hurricanes made light work of Australia\u2019s most consistent Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> club in recent years. The Brumbies have always been there or thereabouts but on Friday evening at the Cake Tin; they were absolutely nowhere.<\/p>\n It was quite simply one-way traffic from the first to last whistle in the first half as the \u2018Canes rampaged their way to a 38-7 half-time lead. The Australians\u2019 only points of the half came off the back of sharp thinking from scrum-half Ryan Lonergan, who managed to punish the only real time the Hurricanes switched off.<\/p>\n In the opening stanza, it\u2019s hard to pinpoint a facet of play where the Brumbies managed even to compete, as the men in yellow and black bossed the scrums, lineouts, gain-line, possession and territory and didn\u2019t waste their opportunities, either running in five tries.<\/p>\n The Hurricanes have been the standard bearers throughout this season, racking up 55 league points to top the table. It was always going to be a tall ask for the Brumbies to knock over the competition\u2019s best. Still, few would have predicted such a compelling battering as the Aussies simply lacked the horsepower to challenge the men from Wellington.<\/p>\n Clark Laidlaw\u2019s men weren\u2019t a one-trick pony either as they managed to score points at will, whether it was through their transition attack, multi-phase or strike moves from set-pieces. They bossed the gain-line on defence too, stifling the Brumbies\u2019 attack and didn\u2019t give them freebies at lineout time.<\/p>\n It was truly sensational showing from Super Rugby\u2019s leading club as the Hurricanes racked up 14 entries into the Brumbies\u2019 22 and averaged a mind-blogging 4.7 points per entry.<\/p>\n Hurricanes player ratings: \u2018World-class\u2019 Jordie Barrett in another \u2018silky smooth\u2019 display as All Blacks powerhouse set for \u2018big year\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Bledisloe Cup preview?<\/p>\n Joe Schmidt and Les Kiss will have kept an eye on proceedings in Wellington with their Wallabies\u2019 caps on, and the carnage that they witnessed will only raise concerns going forward. Australia face Ireland, France and Italy this July and will pull a large chunk of their players from the Brumbies squad, and on today\u2019s evidence, the Wallabies coaching team have a lot of work ahead of them.<\/p>\n As mentioned above, there was very, very little good about the Brumbies\u2019 performance, and Australian teams have struggled in general against their Kiwi counterparts this season. With Dave Rennie taking over the All Blacks from Scott Robertson, there is a real threat that the Bledisloe Cup could play out in a similar fashion come October.<\/p>\n Schmidt has proved that he can put together a Wallabies team that is hard to beat despite the underperformance at Super Rugby level, but the gulf in class on display today cannot be overlooked or swept aside.<\/p>\n New Zealand\u2019s dominance in home Super Rugby knockouts<\/p>\n The odds were stacked up against the Brumbies today, and Larkham\u2019s men simply couldn\u2019t overcome them as they fell to the same fate that every other Australian team has succumbed to when facing a New Zealand club in a Super Rugby play-off in Aotearoa: defeat.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a running theme that has stuck since the inaugural season of Super Rugby, and there doesn\u2019t look to be an end in sight, with the odds also stacked against the Queensland Reds in Waikato on Saturday.<\/p>\n The demise of the Melbourne Rebels meant that the remaining Aussie teams received a depth boost for the 2026 season, but that hasn\u2019t translated significantly in terms of overall performance as the New Zealanders cruised through the league stages of Super Rugby, claiming the top four positions on the table and made light work of the first knockout match.<\/p>\n