Gareth Evans and Julian Savea scored a hat-trick of tries each as the Hurricanes edged the Chiefs 43-38 in a high scoring practice match at Hawera's Hicks Park on Thursday afternoon.

In front of healthy crowd of evenly split supporters, it was the Chiefs who opened the scoring early before Savea scored the first of his tries to level the scores.

While the Chiefs hit back straight away Savea grabbed a second following a good line break by hooker James O'Reilly before the home side seized on several Hurricanes errors to go to the break with a healthy 31-14 advantage.

Playing with the wind at their backs in the second half the Hurricanes looked a lot more composed as they worked patiently back into the game.

No 8 Evans crossed following a 5m scrum before Savea reminded Hurricanes fans just how much he will be missed next year when he heads to France as he scored an excellent third try after some good lead-up work.

Behind 31-26 the forwards reverted to some effective pick and go play around the fringes which eventually saw Evans cross again before he went over for his hat-trick as he dived over a ruck in the corner.

First five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop then gave the Hurricanes a 43-31 match winning advantage befoe the Chiefs crossed for a consolation try.

While Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd would not have been entirely happy with some of the play, especially the defence at times, he would have been satisifed to give some key players some valuable game time as they prepare to cross the Tasman and meet the Brumbies next week when Super Rugby resumes.