Super Barrett gives Hurricanes maiden crown

Members of the Hurricanes celebrate their victory after the Super Rugby Final match between the Wellington Hurricanes and Lions of South Africa at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on August 6, 2016 - AFP

AFP: The Wellington Hurricanes ended a 20-year nightmare Saturday when Beauden Barrett in scintillating form engineered a 20-3 victory over the Golden Lions on Saturday for their maiden Super Rugby title.

On a miserable, wet night in Wellington, man-of-the-match Barrett was everywhere for the Hurricanes and settled the outcome of the final with an audacious try 12 minutes from time.

There were tumultuous scenes in the packed stadium as the Hurricanes, a team which often promised plenty but never delivered, became the fifth New Zealand side to be crowned Super champions.

“There’s been a lot of sorrow for this club and tonight we can finally say we’re champions for a Hurricanes team that’s been trying for a lot of years,” captain Dane Coles said.

“This goes out to all the Hurricanes players who have played for the jersey. We finally did it.”

Lions skipper Warren Whiteley accepted the Hurricanes deserved to win, but said his side, only back in the competition three years since being dumped, would continue their meteoric rise next year.

“We feel the best is yet to come. This is only the start for us. We’ll have the same squad next year and we’ll learn from this,” Whiteley said.

The atrocious conditions dictated the outcome would rest on which of rival fly-halves Barrett and Elton Jantjies could best direct play.

It was a kicking duel Barrett won as he kept returning the Hurricanes to point-scoring positions despite the Lions dominating territory.

Cory Jane also scored for the Hurricanes with Barrett adding two conversions and two penalties while the Lions points came from a sole Elton Jantjies penalty.

It has been a long road to the top for the Hurricanes who lost the 2006 and 2015 finals as well as being beaten five times in the semi-finals.

But 2016 was not going to elude them, particularly with their local knowledge of Wellington’s wintry conditions while the arduous travel from South Africa eventually told on the Lions as the game wore on.

Farook Kassim savours Super Rugby final in Wellington

A Sri Lankan businessman based in Dubai with business interests in South Africa, Farook Kassim, attended the Super Rugby final in Wellington New Zealand on Saturday evening.

Super Rugby is the only tournament in the world that is played across many different time zones and it is this which makes listing the kick-off times extremely difficult.

In addition to this, Australia and New Zealand use Daylight Saving Time while South Africa does not. Queensland in Australia also has different Daylight Saving Time schedules to New South Wales and Perth is in a different time zone to Sydney. Due to this there is much confusion when one lists kick-off times. Five countries, namely Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa, are the only countries taking part in Super Rugby. 

Kassim said that it was a wet and cold evening in Wellington, with winds of up to 26 mph and temperatures of 6C. From the capital’s 400,000 residents, 34,973 attended the match with the majority of them being supporters of the home team Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes ended a 20-year nightmare after Beauden Barrett engineered a 20-3 victory over the Lions for their maiden Super Rugby title.

“On a miserable, wet night in Wellington, man-of-the-match Barrett was everywhere for the Hurricanes and settled the outcome with an audacious try 12 minutes from time. There were tumultuous scenes in the packed stadium as the Hurricanes, a team which often promised plenty but never delivered, became the fifth New Zealand side to be crowned Super Rugby champions. It was a very nice match though it was one-sided from the beginning. The crowds were thrilled to see the home team win; very few supporters of the Lions, like me, went home disappointed,” said Kassim.