Time to drag in fans
Sure, a win against the Chiefs at Westpac Stadium is important in the context of the push to make the Super 14 playoffs, but victory will not be enough.
The Hurricanes have to also woo their fans back.
Thousands of punters who had paid for a ticket didnt bother to turn up for last weeks match against the Reds and season tickets are being returned in record numbers.
Rugby fatigue is almost an established physiological condition now, but there is a simple cure - playing entertaining footy.
Coaches like to win and ultimately successful teams attract fans, but the Hurricanes history suggests people will watch attractive rugby regardless of the result.
The Hurricanes averaged 27,520 fans a game in 2000 when they won six of 11 games and finished eighth. They were ninth in 2001 with only five wins but a record 28,029 fans were at each match and in 2002, when they were ninth again, 27,196 fans attended.
There is no excuse for the Hurricanes not to be playing attractive rugby. They have seven All Blacks in the pack tonight and three in the backs, and have the talent to score fantastic tries.
There may be some tolerance for giving players time to adjust to the new laws, but that hasnt held back the Blues or Crusaders who already seem to have turned the Super 14 into a Super Two.
The Hurricanes are good when they can hit the ball up through their centres and offload to their marauding loose forwards; or when their pick-and-go gets the opposition on the back foot.
The offloads are not working because the skills have been dreadful with 31 errors against the Waratahs and 22 against the Reds last week.
And the pick-and-go is risky under the ELVs, with little time to clear the ball before a free-kick is awarded.
Coach Colin Cooper admitted this week he was still tailoring his game plan to how the ELVs were shaping the game - but time is of the essence for both teams tonight. They each have a tick in the win and loss columns and with the trip to South Africa still to come need points in the bank.
Hurricanes flanker Jerry Collins thinks the Chiefs will be tougher than the Reds and that they had shown the Waratahs were not as good as the Hurricanes allowed them to look in the first round.
We were pretty bad that night and well have to play a lot better than we have been. Its not from a lack of trying. Weve had a lot of handling errors but we kicked it the least [of the Super 14 teams] which is encouraging.
We are trying to use the ball but at the moment we are not going as good as we should.
Chiefs hooker Tom Willis was expecting the Hurricanes to be as aggressive, direct and combative as ever.
The cornerstone players of that style are still there with guys like Andrew Hore and Jerry Collins, so thats not changed.
Theyre also a team that has an attacking mindset, so when you put those together they are dangerous.
This is a match that could be close, but also high scoring. While the coaches will be focusing only on the result, the bean counters will be hoping the rugby gets the turnstiles spinning.
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Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 8:28 pm under