Hurricanes coach bites his tongue after controversial finish to quarterfinal

He didn’t have to. His answer was written all over his face.

“I suppose you just bite your tongue when the journalists ask you questions straight after the game,” a stunned Holland told reporters after his team’s heartbreaking 37-33 defeat to the Brumbies on Saturday.

“There’s nothing much to be said. Ards has said he scored the try, but we’ve got to be able to control what we can control.

“We could have scored a couple of other times in that game with opportunities we created and we weren’t quite accurate enough.”

Holland’s tenure as Hurricanes head coach came to an abrupt end after his team came up agonisingly short in a thrilling quarterfinal contest against the Brumbies at GIO Stadium in Canberra.

The Hurricanes lost by just four points after captain Ardie Savea had a try disallowed in the final play of the game.

Savea was judged to have been held up over the line by Brumbies flanker Luke Reimer, though he was adamant he had scored.

It was obvious Holland believed his skipper.

In the lead-up to what proved to be his final match at the helm, Holland was asked how he was feeling heading into the Super Rugby playoffs, knowing a defeat would bring an end to his time at the club.

Holland said there were moments from his playing career, particularly with Irish club Munster, that still kept him up at night.

This game is likely to haunt him as well.

Asked by former Wallabies player turned Stan Sport TV presenter Morgan Turinui whether he grounded the ball, an emotional Savea answered with absolute certainty: “I scored it brother!”

Holland looked like a nervous wreck up in the coach’s box as Brumbies withstood every punch the Hurricanes threw at them over the final five minutes.

It was the second year in a row the Hurricanes' had been eliminated by the Brumbies in the first round of the playoffs.

The Hurricanes blew another golden opportunity to score right before Savea’s try was disallowed.

Jordie Barrett had drawn Noah Lolesio, leaving Bailyn Sullivan free on his outside, but he opted to go alone and was stopped before the try-line.

“Key moments. That’s sport isn’t it?” Holland reflected.

“I look back to 4 v 5 and qualifying 4 v 5 and controlling the things we can control. Part of the battle around coming to Canberra, the 50-50 calls don’t go your way here.

“I thought we created so many opportunities and the Brumbies are really strong around that D (defence) and sometimes it takes six minutes to wear down a team like the Brumbies and score a try and I thought we’d done that.”

The Hurricanes trailed 25-16 at halftime but stormed back into the contest after Savea scored a try early in the second half and Devan Flanders ran 60 metres to score another from a scrum inside their own half.

They led 33-30 before fullback Tom Wright restored the Brumbies advantage with a try in the left corner with nine minutes to play.

“I thought when we went ahead we’d taken the wind out of the Brumbies a little bit.

“They were putting us under massive pressure with their carry but we put a stop to that in the second half and I thought we were getting on top.”

Against all odds, the Brumbies managed to hang on and keep their championship hopes alive.

They will travel across to Hamilton to play the Chiefs in the semifinals next Saturday.

The Crusaders will host the Blues in the other match on Friday.