Way to go Hurricanes .... that's the 80-minute performance the Super Rugby side was chasing.

Prior to tonight's third round Trans-Tasman clash against the Western Force at Napier's McLean Park Canes assistant coach and former Magpies lock Chris Gibbes said his troops were after an 80-minute display. In front of 9,296 fans and in dewey conditions the Canes ticked that goal off in spectacular fashion with a 43-6 drubbing.

As delighted third-string captain and blindside flanker Reed Prinsep told media afterwards:

"In our first game, the defence was lacking. In the second game, it was the attack ... this was more the complete performance."

Winger Salesi Rayasi (pictured above, photos Chris Kiely) produced a player of the match display with two brilliant tries, nine carries, 95 running metres and six broken tackles. Rayasi admitted to being "pretty stoked" with his performance and said the Canes former All Blacks winger Julian Savea can take some of the credit as he had been mentoring him.

Rayasi also agreed his display backed up his decision to stick with Super Rugby instead of chasing a berth in the All Black Sevens Olympic Games squad.

"That was an extremely hard decision made at the last minute," Rayasi said. 

Savea's brother, All Black loosie Ardie Savea, made an impressive return from injury during 30 minute of action. He secured a penalty after 10 seconds of action and sent second five-eighth Ngani Laumape (pictured above) away for a brilliant try after fielding a clever kick from All Black Jordie Barrett who had classy shifts at fullback and first five-eighth.

Ardie Savea replaced Magpies loosie Gareth Evans (pictured below) who had every right to be happy with his 50 minutes of action in a long-awaited return to this level after an injury spell. Fellow Magpies starter, lock Isaia Walker-Leawere, ticked all the boxes he had to.

Magpies prop Pouri Rakete-Stones made the most of his 30 minutes off the subs bench. 

In addition to securing the top spot on the points table with the maximum 15 points, the Canes added to a handy points differential which could be crucial at the business end of the competiton. They were ruthless in keeping the Force tryless.

"We weren't good enough. The Hurricanes were classy. They pounced on our mistakes and capitalised. We didn't trust ourselves enough," Force second five-eighth and captain Kyle Godwin lamented.

"That was one of our better performances. It came from doing the simple things right and we were physical early on," Canes head coach Jason Holland explained.

"We were able to keep them tryless by dominating the collisions," Holland added.

His lads travel to Canberra to play the Brumbies next weekend.

Scorers:
Hurricanes 43 (Salesi Rayasi 2, Asafo Aumua, Du'plessis Kirifi, Ngani Laumape, Wes Goosen, Jordie Barrett tries; Barrett 4 cons), Western Force 6 (Domingo Miotti 2 pens). HT: 19-6.