Lions roar home as Hurricanes blow big lead in Super Rugby semifinal

Beauden Barrett makes a break, with Ruan Combrick in hot pursuit.

A scoreline of 35-3 would've been handy.

That's what Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd thought the scoreboard should've said at halftime in Sunday morning's Super Rugby semifinal against the Lions.

Instead the Hurricanes were up just 22-10, before the home side romped home 44-29 to set up a decider against the Crusaders in a week's time.

Ngani Laumape puts the foot down for the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes had come to Ellis Park certain they would win and seeing their title defence turn to custard came as quite some shock.

"I was sitting next to Brad [Shields] and I just said how did we lose that game?," captain Dane Coles said at fulltime.

"There was definitely that feeling [because] we were so dominant in that first half and we gave ourselves a chance right up until TJ [Perenara] threw that intercept try. That was a bit of a kick in the guts.

"Yeah, it was one of those ones where you look back and go how did we lose that one."

Referee Jaco Peyper not going upstairs to check Jacques van Rooyen's first-half try, nor Malcolm Marx's in the second, would be one place to start. The 59th-minute sinbinning of Hurricanes first five-eighth Beauden Barrett would be another.

The Lions had a field day in the second half, as momentum turned and the Hurricanes ran out of puff. But you can't overlook some of the things that contributed to the shift in ascendancy.

The additional frustration for the Hurricanes was they should've put things beyond doubt well before then.

"We could've taken the referee out of the game and we talked about that," Boyd said.

Instead the Hurricanes left a number of potential first-half points on the table and paved the way for refereeing decisions to hurt them later on.

"We created, with ease, quite a number of opportunities in the first half and butchered probably three or four others. If we had've nailed a couple of those I think it would've been a bridge too far for them," said Boyd.

In the end tries to Perenara, Wes Goosen and Ardie Savea were what the Hurricanes had to show for a 40 minutes in which 37 had been their's.

But van Rooyen's late try, which the Hurricanes weren't sure was grounded, was followed by others to Ross Cronje, Marx - when touch judge Rasta Rasivhenge insisted Peyper not go upstairs, but should have - Harold Vorster, Elton Jantjies and finally Kwagga Smith, from the pass Coles mentioned.

There was a moment after 56 minutes, when a converted try to Ngani Laumape made it 29-22, where it looked as if the Hurricanes might gather themselves and go again. But Barrett was sinbinned, for not rolling away from a tackle, three minutes later and the Lions pounced.

It all added up to a disappointing end to a campaign in which the Hurricanes had a team capable of winning the title and didn't. Next year's squad won't be vastly different but championship windows are funny things and, after being runner's-up, winners and now semifinalists in the last three seasons, the team must feel they haven't quite enjoyed the success they could have.

"At the end of the day, I think a pass mark is to make playoffs, so that's our third playoffs in three years so we're pleased with that," Boyd said.

"But to go out in the semifinal against the Lions was disappointing. We came here expecting to win; there was no doubt about that.