The number one seed Hurricanes have progressed to the Super Rugby semi-finals after destroying the Sharks 41-0 in Wellington.
Behind incredible performances from their half-back pairing, the Canes scored two tries against the wind in the first-half, before adding four more after the break.
On a sour note for the home side, their talismanic captain Dane Coles was forced to leave the field early in the second period with a nasty looking rib-injury. Down in a heap following a scrum, Coles' availability for the remainder of the playoffs may be in doubt.
Barrett dominates April to hand Canes strong half-time lead
With a swirling gust, and consistent rainfall, a strong kicking-game was always going to be important to the outcome of the game.
Hurricanes fly-half Beauden Barrett is in the form of his life, and that continued against the Sharks as he completely outplayed his opposite number Garth April.
After knocking over an early penalty, Barrett's crossfield kick was collected perfectly by winger Jason Woodward who was dragged down just before the line. The ball was recycled and loosehead prop Loni Uhila smashed his way over for the game's first try.
The second try came soon after, when from the back of the scrum TJ Perenara broke to the short-side, before popping the ball to James Marshall who dived over in the corner.
The Sharks came close to scoring, only for Tendai Mtarawira's effort to be ruled-out for a double-movement, and coupled with April's three penalty misses the half could not have gone much worse as they found themselves 13 points down.
Perenara runs riot as Hurricanes top 40
Coming out of the sheds, the Hurricanes topped their first-half performance, adding 28 unanswered points in a complete domination at the Cake Tin.
The scoring started, when Marshall collected a loose kick before passing to Perenara who found himself in space. After stepping one, the scrum-half then smashed through his opposite number Michael Claassens before popping inside to Woodward who cantered under the sticks.
Another excellent break by Perenara two minutes later ended with Vaea Fifita rumbling over from 20 metres, before the nine got a try of his own after sniping over from a yard out.
With Coles already forced off through injury, head coach Chris Boyd decided to pull star trio Perenara, Barrett and Ardie Savea from the field at the hour mark, yet they continued to run riot adding gloss to their victory when Brad Shields dived over to take the score past 40.
As much as the attacking play will have pleased the Hurricanes coaching staff, becoming the first side to ever shut-out an opponent in the Super Rugby playoffs will be the biggest caveat for the side going forward.