The Auckland Blues yesterday ruined Ardie Savea’s centenary celebrations for the Hurricanes in Wellington, New Zealand, with a storming second half to open their Super Rugby Aotearoa season with a 31-16 victory.
Jodie Barrett’s booming boot had the Hurricanes ahead 11-7 at halftime, only for the Blues to strike back with three second-half tries.
Savea, marking his 100th game in Hurricanes colors and his first as captain, had a powerful game with essential turnovers, crushing tackles and powerful running with the ball.
However, the All Blacks loose forward and one-man tank could not do it on his own and as much as he put in a sterling effort, the Hurricanes were unable to hold back a powerful Blues pack stacked with a raft of Test players.
“In the second half, we still struggled with our set piece, but we did well to reorganize and focus on the basics, and get some good go-forward [ball] and score some tries,” Blues captain Paddy Tuipulotu said.
However, there were multiple penalties and two yellow cards, and Tuipulotu said that discipline would be a key element in the competition.
“The refs are going to be harder on the off-side, and there’ll be a lot more penalties,” Tuipulotu said. “But in saying that, it’s for the good of the game and for us as players that we’ve got to adhere to those [rules], and try and keep pushing the boundaries — but not too much.”
There was a try apiece in the opening six minutes — to Dalton Papali’i and Asafo Aumua — before Barrett made his mark in the closing three minutes of the first half.
He banged over two penalties from near the sideline and close to halfway when the Hurricanes were down a man with James Blackwell in the sin bin.
It had the Hurricanes five points ahead going into the second spell, but the lead did not last long.
Caleb Clarke latched on to an Otere Black cross-kick to put the visitors back in front, and a Stephen Perofeta try, converted by Black, pushed the Blues out to a 21-16 lead.
The Hurricanes narrowed the gap with a well-worked lineout move that produced Aumua’s second try, before the stronger finishing Blues piled on a penalty by Black, who also converted a 70m runaway try by Rieko Ioane.
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