Hurricanes down willing Kings

Wasted opportunities and soft tries cost the Southern Kings as they lost their second tour match in New Zealand, by 46-30 to the Hurricanes in Wellington’s Westpac Stadium on Saturday morning (SA time).

The Kings yet again fought bravely and never gave up against a more-fancied opponent, with Hannes Franklin going over for their third try late in the match, but the 17 points they conceded through two late tries and a penalty goal in the last 15 minutes, proved too much in the end.

When Ronnie Cooke, who looked good with ball in hand, went over for the Kings’ second try with half an hour of play left, they were behind by 23-29 and within range. But the team from the Eastern Cape handed their hosts two soft tries, which sealed the result for the Hurricanes.

Despite playing well at times, a slow start – where the Kings seemed to lack focus as the ‘Canes scored three tries to one, by Steven Sykes, in the first 30 minutes – as well as the sloppy finish, were costly for the Kings.

Scorers:

Hurricanes – Tries: Ben May, Conrad Smith, TJ Perenara, Jeremy Thrush, Brad Shields, Alapati Leiua. Conversions: Beauden Barrett (5). Penalty goals: Barrett (2).

Southern Kings – Tries: Steven Sykes, Ronnie Cooke, Hannes Franklin. Conversions: Demetri Catrakilis (2), George Whitehead. Penalty goals: Catrakilis (3).