Latest news with #Naholo
NZ Herald
12-05-2025
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Hurricanes v Highlanders: Covid outbreak rocks Hurricanes during Super Rugby Pacific bye week
'Quite a few of us had Covid, so a few of us were quite crook,' said Aumua. 'It was more the front end of the week, so that was good. 'We could start getting into our remote training by ourselves at the back end and it didn't really affect us too much.' With three games remaining, the Hurricanes currently occupy the final playoff spot in sixth after a recent run of good results. They're unbeaten in their last three games, playing out a draw with the Western Force, followed by wins over the Brumbies and Chiefs. History says the Hurricanes will extend their win streak, as the Highlanders haven't won in the capital since the 2015 grand final. One player who is unlikely to face the Highlanders is winger Kini Naholo, with the Hurricanes still waiting to determine the severity of his knee injury. Naholo went down clutching his right knee in a concerning non-contact incident early in the win over the Chiefs. 'It didn't look good, did it? We've got to go get some more scans,' said Mackintosh. 'When it's a non-contact injury, everyone looks at the TV in disappointment. 'We just hope for the best for Kini. He's a big part of our team.' While Naholo is in doubt, first-five Brett Cameron is a chance of returning from an ACL injury during last year's NPC, having completed two club games. Mackintosh feels the Hurricanes' form is no coincidence with most of their stars returning after missing the opening rounds of the season including Ruben Love and Billy Proctor. 'We had a ton of injuries at the start of the year but you can start to see the combinations click and we're very fortunate to have some guys coming back from injury,' said Mackintosh. 'That's going to be a week-to-week decision but at the moment we've backed off that block [of games with back-to-back wins] and some cohesion with our selections certainly helped us.' Squads for this weekend's games are named at 4pm on Wednesday.
RNZ News
26-04-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Canes bust Aussie hoodoo with win over Brumbies
The Hurricanes' Cam Roigard celebrates with Ngane Punivai, after a try against the Brumbies on Saturday night. Photo: Mark Evans/ActionPress Two tries each to Kini Naholo and Ngane Punivai proved to be extremely valuable for the Hurricanes as they picked up their first win of the season by a New Zealand Super Rugby Pacific team on Australian soil. They toppled the third-placed Brumbies in Canberra, crucially hanging on and making the right decisions at the business end of the game. The return of midfield duo Riley Higgins and Billy Proctor made a massive difference as well, with Proctor scoring after Allan Alaalatoa had struck first for the home side. Newly re-signed wing Ngane Punivai then added another on the half hour mark, before Naholo blasted his way through just before half-time. Naholo then benefited from some lovely hands by Callum Harkin to score his second, Punivai then followed suit off a slick scrum move. That made it a two-score game, and while the Brumbies pulled one back through Adam Muirhead, the Canes' defence and option-taking in the last seven minutes kept the ball solidly stationed in the opposition half. The game finished with a disallowed try to Tyrel Lomax, which did cost the Canes a bonus point. However, the win shoots them all the way up into fifth place on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder. It is a timely return to form for Clark Laidlaw's very inconsistent team, as they now embark on a tough run into the play-offs, starting with a home game against the Chiefs next weekend. Meanwhile, the Brumbies have three Australian derby matches in a row coming up, before finishing their regular season against the Crusaders. See how the game unfolded:
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Brumbies suffer costly Super Rugby loss to Hurricanes
The ACT Brumbies have blown a golden chance to maintain contact with the Super Rugby Pacific ladder leaders after an upset loss to the Hurricanes in Canberra. The third-placed Brumbies hadn't lost at home to the Hurricanes, who sit eighth on the table, since 2017 and had won five of their past six clashes. But they couldn't catch the men from Wellington, going down in a thriller 35-29 on Saturday. Burly Hurricanes winger Kini Naholo steamrolled his rivals to score two tries in a stand-out performance in the capital. Not gonna stop him 😤#SuperRugbyPacific #BRUvHUR — Super Rugby Pacific (@SuperRugby) April 26, 2025 Australia's top-ranked side started well, with skipper Allan Alaalatoa burrowing his way over the line in the eighth minute. But in keeping with the theme of the night, each time they scored the visitors answered with a try of their own. Centre Billy Proctor was first across the tryline, running on to a massive cut-out pass from Callum Harkin, followed up by Ngantungane Punivai to give the Hurricanes a 10-5 lead. Brumbies flanker Luke Reimer then sniffed out a try, only for Naholo to hit back three minutes later after some neat lead-up work by Ruben Love and Harkin, with the Hurricanes taking a 20-15 lead into halftime. With the Brumbies only managing 32 per cent of possession and 23 per cent of territory, they had to work for every point, but newly re-signed Len Ikitau came up trumps with the first try of the second half. But Naholo used his speed and brute strength to cut a swathe through the Brumbies defence, and his team were out to an eight-point lead, which soon became 13 thanks to Punivai's second. In typical Brumbies fashion they kept coming and were eventually rewarded with winger Andy Muirhead crossing in the corner in the 70th minute, with Noah Lolesio adding the extras from the sideline. The home side had plenty of time to score the winning try, but a series of poor decisions and errors proved costly.
