Canes hold on to cement top spot

The Hurricanes cemented top spot on the Super Rugby standings with a 25-20 win over a willing Stormers team in Wellington on Friday.

Surviving a strong second-half fight back by the Stormers and outscoring the visitors by three tries to two, the Hurricanes won their seventh consecutive match in an unbeaten start to the season.

The Stormers cab feel aggrieved about many of the referee's rulings, with captain Duane Vermeulen's many running debates with Rohan Hoffmann attest to his feelings about the Australian official's puzzling calls.

The Hurricanes, however, deserve credit for playing what was afforded them and raced into a deserved 25-3 half-time lead - which included a 90-metre try by start flyhalf Beauden Barrett.

The Stormers came back strongly in the second half and scored two tries of their own, including a penalty try as the Hurricanes' deliberate transgressions became all to obvious for Hoffmann to ignore.

However, in the end the Stormers ran out of time and will also rue the many mistakes that cost them scoring chances.

A 12-minute burst before half-time, in which they scored three tries, propelled the Hurricanes to a 25-3 lead at the break - before they surrendered 17 unanswered points in the second half.

Their running game, effectively led by Nehe Milner-Skudder in the first half, fell away and it was only resolute defence that limited the Stormers to two tries.

"The basics were letting us down," Hurricanes captain Conrad Smith said.

"The set piece which worked so well for us had a few problems and the Stormers started playing really well.

"They were looking after the ball and weren't making mistakes and we weren't getting the turnovers we were in the first half and suddenly it was a different game."

One bright spot for the Hurricanes in their seventh win from seven games was the continued development of fullback Milner-Skudder, whose two late tries last week also ensured the Hurricanes overcame the Melbourne Rebels.

Against the Stormers the 24-year-old nephew of George Skudder and cousin of Buff Milne - both former All Blacks - was a central figure in two of their three tries.

Milner-Skudder scored the Hurricanes' first try when he raced through to beat the cover defence to a Beauden Barrett corner kick, and set up the second try by slicing through the Stormers to send Julian Savea over.

The Hurricanes' third try was a 90-metre effort from turnover ball when they were desperately defending.

Ma'a Nonu, playing his 150th Super game, led the break out with Cory Jane and Brad Shields also handling before Barrett finished off the move.

Barrett also kicked two conversions and two penalties to a penalty for the Stormers by Demetri Catrakilis as the Hurricanes went into the half-time break with a healthy 25-3 lead.

But the nature of the game turned after the break as Duane Vermeulen and Schalk Burger led an improved ball-winning effort by the Stormers forwards.

The Stormers turned down three penalty shots at goal in their effort to get their first try and were eventually rewarded with a penalty try when the Hurricanes scrum collapsed on their own line.

Centre Huw Jones, denied one try when it was ruled he took the ball from an offside position, made no mistake with his second opportunity and scored in the corner in the 65th minute as the game narrowed to 25-17.

But despite holding a territorial advantage in the closing stages, the Stormers were held back by the Hurricanes defence and had to rely on a penalty by Kurt Coleman to get their bonus point.

Man of the match: Schalk Burger played at 100kilometres-per-hour, as he always does. Duane Vermeulen was a monster of pure power in the second half, Huw Jones did very well for a late replacement and Damian de Allende also had a few decent runs. Ma'a Nonu was aggressive, Beauden Barrett was again the general that directed the troops, Reggie Goodes produced some sublime moments, including some valuable turnovers, and Brad Shields produced a mammoth workrate. However, our award goes Hurricanes fullback Nehe Milner-Skudder, who caused all kinds of trouble for a fractured Stormers defensive line in the first half. He scored one try and had a hand in another, as the Hurricanes raced into what proved to be a match-winning lead.

The scorers:

For the Hurricanes:

Tries: Milner-Skudder, Savea, Barrett

Cons: Barrett 2

Pens: Barrett 2

For the Stormers:

Tries: Penalty try, Jones

Cons: Catrakilis 2

Pens: Catrakilis, Coleman

Teams:

Hurricanes: 15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith (captain), 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Callum Gibbins, 6 Brad Shields, 5 James Broadhurst, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Motu Matu'u, 1 Reggie Goodes.

Replacements: 16 Brayden Mitchell, 17 Ben May, 18 Chris Eves, 19 Mark Abbott, 20 Adam Hill, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Rey Lee-Lo, 23 James Marshall.

Stormers: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Manuel Carizza, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff.

Replacements: 16 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 17 Oliver Kebble, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Ruan Botha, 20 Michael Rhodes, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Kurt Coleman, 23  Johnny Kotze .

Referee: Rohan Hoffmann

Assistant referees: Kane McBride, Mike Lash

TMO: Chris Wratt