Match Centre: Super Rugby Pacific: Crusaders 10-14 Hurricanes

Crusaders 10-14 Hurricanes, Christchurch

Crusaders losing streak in the ongoing Super Rugby Pacific campaign continued as they were edged out 14-10 by Hurricanes in the fourth round at Christchurch on Friday.

The result meant the Crusaders now have lost all four games in the season - which is their worst start to a campaign since 1996 while Hurricanes have retained their place at the top with four wins from as many games.

"We're trying really hard but it's just not sticking," Crusaders stand-in captain David Havili said.

"We gave ourselves a chance in the contest tonight, but we couldn't quite finish it off."

Hurricanes had an early infringement of off side but Riley Hohepa missed a penalty goal as the teams remained scoreless. To make things worse for the home side, the visitors got the opening try as Cameron Roigard sends clear for Tyrel Lomax to crash over in the 14th minute. Brett Cameron kicked the conversion to make it 0-7.

The start of the second half saw Cameron miss a penalty goal as the gap continued to remain at seven points. They had a chance to score when Josh Moorby raced ahead but a tackle from Sevu Reece meant they continued to trail by seven points at the end of the opening half.

The pressure mounted on Crusaders as Hurricanes went on attacking early in the second half as Asafo Aumua and set up Roigard as he ran 80m to touchdown but was denied by the TMO as the replays showed he had a knock on in the build up. The Crusaders eventually got their first points in the 55th minute as Cullen Grace dived from close range and Hohepa's conversion got the scores levelled.

The start of the final 10 minutes saw Hohepa kicking a penalty goal much to the delight of the home crowd as they went into the lead for the first time. Cameron had a chance to level the scores but his 41m penalty drifted wide. Crusaders handed Hurricanes a huge advantage in the closing stage as Hannah was sinbinned and the visitors made use of the numerical advantage with Justin Sangster dotting down. Cameron kicked the conversion in front of the posts to make it 10-14 as Crusaders lost Owen Franks to sin bin in the added minutes.

Team line up:

Crusaders XV: 15 Chay Fihaki, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Levi Aumua, 12 David Havili, 11 Macca Springer, 10 Riley Hohepa, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Cullen Grace, 7 Tom Christie, 6 Dom Gardiner, 5 Zach Gallagher, 4 Quinten Strange, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 George Bell, 1 George Bower

Reserves: 16 Ioane Moananu, 17 Finlay Brewis, 18 Owen Franks, 19 Jamie Hannah, 20 Tahlor Cahill, 21 Mitchell Drummond, 22 Ryan Crotty, 23 Dallas McLeod

Hurricanes XV: 15 Ruben Love, 14 Joshua Moorby, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Riley Higgins, 11 Kini Naholo, 10 Brett Cameron, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Brayden Iose, 7 Peter Lakai, 6 Devan Flanders, 5 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 4 James Tucker, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Xavier Numia

Reserves: 16 James O'Reilly, 17 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Justin Sangster, 20 Du'Plessis Kirifi, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Peter Umaga-Jensen, 23 Salesi Rayasi