Aisle Be Back: Hurricanes v Reds

A Hurricanes flag has appeared opposite where I sit at work, on a scaffolded building. It's a good 40 metres up and like the team; it's had a tumultuous week in the southerlies.

I imagine it's well tied on, which is what you'd hope is still the case for the Canes. With the fascinating logjam in the New Zealand conference, everything should be screaming out that WE'RE STILL IN THIS.

Considering the team has yet to put out more than the one really good performance, it's largely stayed in touch.

Of course the margin for error now is getting smaller, but that's true of every New Zealand conference side. Certainly one more loss and we'll be scrabbling around the rest of the comp trying to sneak in at 7 or 8 in the playoffs.

And of course, the next team we play is the Highlanders, who are on a great run. But the Canes are good enough to win that. That's what they need to believe, and then execute.

+++++

So did you feel cheated as a fan by the famous four and Chris Eves getting stood down? Apparently the crowd on Saturday night for the Reds was over 11,000 but it felt a few thousand short of that.

If you were there, it was a hard watch - and kind of odd to walk away feeling flat about the rugby after nailing five tries.

As to the curfew stand-down, you can criticise the way it played out but surely you can't take issue with the actual decision. It seems these were the rules set by the players themselves, so it would have been impossible to then not apply them.

As a fan, I'd rather that than have a team which failed to respect its own setup.

(And a wee shout-out to Wes Goosen. Great composure to nail that first try. You can imagine there was a bit going through his head as he lined up Beaudy's lovely cross-kick).

+++++

The missing minutes in Durban throw up a bunch of posers.

WHAT actual thing took up the fateful 18 minutes. I'm picking they found an old spacies machine.

SHOULD the Canes only play in cities with no nightlife to minimise temptation? Would the Chiefs and Brumbies however actually agree to hosting us so often?

WAS Chris Eves the designated driver. Could he have been best used as designated time-keeper?

AND finally, why isn't anyone calling out Richie McCaw. He's currently knocking on dairy farmer doors at 4.31am and taking over their breakfast tables. 4.31am?! I don't see him being stood down.

Kev has followed the Hurricanes since they began. He has a season pass. Every year he predicts the Canes will win Super Rugby. He refuses to be called a long-suffering fan.