A late flurry of tries helped the Hurricanes to a 43-15 win over the Sunwolves in their Investec Super Rugby match at Westpac Stadium on Friday night.

While a fair distance separates the two sides on the overall points table, the Sunwolves showed just how far they had come in little over a year by putting plenty of pressure on their hosts on a night when the match officials had a big say in proceedings.

After what appeared a brilliant try to Vince Aso was scratched by Television Match Official Ben Skeen following an opening sequence of play that stretched past three minutes, the Sunwolves took a 7-0 lead when captain Pieter Lappies Labuschagne crossed.

However, the Hurricanes came back well by controlling possession and putting pressure on the Sunwolves inside their half as they scored three tries, including one to halfback Finlay Christie on debut, to take a 21-10 lead into the break.

A perfect start to the second half, when fullback Jordie Barrett scored from long-range, hinted that it might be a comfortable night for the home side but the Sunwolves showed there is a lot more to their squad in 2018 than a year earlier by dominating possession and territory for the next 25 minutes.

Time and again they went close to scoring, only to be held out by some resolute defence.

While they did cross again to narrow the gap to 26-15, they could not maintain the pressure and the Hurricanes showed just how dangerous they are on attack by scoring three late tries, including a brace to counter the two he had ruled out.

There was also a try to captain Brad Shields late off a great pass from Ardie Savea who got through 80 minutes of work after missing the last three matches with rib injury.

Shields and head coach Chris Boyd admitted after the match that the performance was frustrating at times but the pair paid tribute to the work the Sunwolves produced in denying them the ball for long periods.

One real positive out of the match was the return of wing Nehe Milner-Skudder who was subbed on with 23 minutes left, his first time on the field since a major shoulder injury in October.

The Hurricanes now get ready to face the Lions at Westpac Stadium next Saturday in a repeat of the 2016 final.

Hurricanes 43 (Julian Savea, Finlay Christie, Reed Prinsep, Jordie Barrett, Vince Aso 2, Brad Shields tries; Beauden Barrett 3 cons, Jordie Barrett con)

Sunwolves 15 (Pieter Labuschagne, Yu Tamura tries; Hayden Parker con, pen)

HT: 21-10