The Hurricanes have maintained their unbeaten home record in 2018 but they had to battle right to the end to see off a vastly improved Reds side 38-34 at Westpac Stadium on Friday night.

The pre-match predictions from most quarters was for a one-sided Investec Super Rugby contest, especially after the Red were comprehensively beaten in Tokyo by the Sunwolves last round.

However, the Reds side who landed in the capital was nothing like the one from six days earlier.

Obviously stung by the nature of the defeat to the previously winless Japan side, the Reds countered just about everything the Hurricanes threw at them as they scored a number of quality tries to stay in the contest to the very end.

The Hurricanes started well enough and scored first half tries to Beauden Barrett, Ben Lam and Blade Thomson.

The problem for the home side was the Reds answered just about every one of them, either by crossing themselves or landing penalties.

That saw the Hurricanes sneak to a 24-20 lead at the break and try as they might to shake off their trans-Tasman counterparts, they just couldn’t manage it.

Several times it looked like the Hurricanes were in a position to kick-on, only for the Reds to answer back with points of their on.

In the end the Hurricanes got the job done but by their on admission it was not anywhere near the performance they had expected.

Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd and captain TJ Perenara expressed their disappointment at the side’s inaccuracy at times while paying credit to the Reds for the way they played.

Boyd felt the Hurricanes were just not quite at the mark they needed to be for long enough periods while Perenara believed they made too many costly errors at key moments.

Despite that, the Hurricanes did bring up their 10th successive win, they moved to the top of the table, while Ben Lam’s brace of tries took his season tally to 14, just one shy of the Super Rugby record.

There were also some notable performances from the likes of openside flanker Ardie Savea and No 8 Blade Thomson while Barrett was superb with his goal kicking, something that should not be underestimated considering the margin of the victory and the number of difficult kicks he had.

The Hurricanes now prepare to meet the defending champion Crusaders in Christchurch next Friday in what is shaping as a pivotal match.

Hurricanes 38 (Ben Lam 2, Beauden Barrett, Blade Thomson, Sam Lousi tries; Barrett  5 con, pen) Reds 34 (Taniela Tupou, Filipo Daugunu, Jordan Petaia, Samu Kerevi tries; Jono Lance 2 pen, 4 con). HT: 24-20.