Hurricanes must take time to relax and reassess: Hewitt

The Hurricanes will leave Round 5 of Super Rugby Pacific empty-handed, as they are one of the four teams to have had their match postponed due to ongoing Covid effects.

While the Canes are fortunate to have mostly evaded Covid, they were asked to hand their match against the Chiefs over to Moana Pasifika, as they are the side who have been most affected by the pandemic, having only played one match this season.

Former Hurricane Norm Hewitt has acknowledged the frustrations that come with postponed matches, however he believes that the week off may give the Canes some time to recalibrate before their scheduled Round 6 match the following week.

“It’s frustrating from the perspective of all the training you’re putting in during the week,” he said on SENZ’s Hurricane Valley program.

“You build up to perform on the weekend, so I can just imagine the boys are getting really toey.

“In the uncertain circumstances where there are players that are fit and players that are not fit, you can’t put a team together.

“Every team and every New Zealander is affected in some shape or form and it’s just had an impact on the code right now.”

Hewitt believes that the Canes should take this time to relax and refocus their minds in order to give themselves the best opportunity to return to the competition with added flair.

“It’s the mental preparation, it’s about the highs and the lows and when there’s disruption you’re better off to just go and chill,” he said.

“Maybe go and do a bit of analysis or skills, or some basic stuff that they need to work on from the last few weeks.

“But most of it would be to get your heads back down to focus and be prepared to adapt.”

With all of the disruption within the New Zealand conference, Hewitt believes that once the competition crosses the Tasman the Australian teams may have a slight edge.

“The best thing about having continuity is that you get more match-fit and then you get the combinations flowing and get used to the hardened game,” the former player said.

“The body hardens up more and every time you disrupt it you’re going back to zero again, so it’ll give the Aussies a certain edge.

“There’s two teams, the Brumbies and the Reds that I would say are competitive.

“The rest we’ll only go down to with complacency. If we don’t take any of those other teams seriously, that’s when we will get smacked.

“I think it will (give them an edge) a bit, but I don’t think there’s a lot for the Aussie teams to be truly honest.”

The Hurricanes will now set their sights on their scheduled Round 6 match against Moana Pasifika, and will be itching to get back out onto the park to get some points on the table.