Blues edge Hurricanes

PRE-SEASON REPORT: The Blues edged the Hurricanes 29-28 in their Super Rugby pre-season encounter at Onewa Domain in Takapuna.

The Blues outscored their opponents by five tries to four, but poor goal-kicking from the men in blue ensured that it was a tight finish in the end.

It was the Hurricanes who opened the scoring via a try from Ben Lam before the Blues hit back with three unanswered tries from Tony Lamborn, Jordan Hyland and Dalton Papalii.

However, it was the Hurricanes who had the final say of the first half with Ricky Riccitelli scoring a try before the break.

At half-time it was 17-14 in favour of the Blues.

The Blues pulled away again in the opening 10 minutes of the second half with tries from Akira Ioane and Sam Nock.

The Hurricanes stayed in touch with a try from Jamie Booth before Asafo Aumua ensured that it would a tight finish with a try in 76th minute.

The scorers:

For Blues:
Tries: Lamborn, Hyland, Papalii, Ioane, Nock
Cons: Perofeta, Plummer

For Hurricanes:
Tries: Lam, Riccitelli, Booth, Aumua
Cons: Smith 3, Garden-Bachop

Teams:

Blues: 15 Emoni Narawa, 14 Jordan Hyland, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 TJ Faiane (captain), 11 Mark Telea, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Jonathan Ruru, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 Dalton Papalii, 5 James Tucker, 4 Aaron Carroll, 3 Karl Tu’inukuafe, 2 Ray Niuia, 1 Alex Hodgman.
Replacements – from: Ezekiel Lindenmuth, Luteru Tolai, Marcel Renata, Jacob Pierce, Josh Goodhue, Tom Robinson, Blake Gibson, Akira Ioane, Sam Nock, Harry Plummer, Matt Duffie, Tevita Mafileo, Lewis Gjaltema, Sam Caird, Waimana Riedlinger-Kapa, Tamati Tua, Soane Vikena.

Hurricanes: 15 Chase Tiatia, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Fletcher Smith, 9 Jonathan Taumateine, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Reed Prinsep (captain), 5 James Blackwell, 4 Scott Scrafton, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Fraser Armstrong.
Replacements – from: James O’Reilly, Asafo Aumua, Pouri Rakete-Stones, Alex Fidow, Sitiveni Paongo, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Liam Mitchell, Brayden Iose, Josh Southall, Devan Flanders, Vaea Fifita, Jamie Booth, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Vince Aso, Peter Umaga-Jensen, Danny Toala, Kobus Van Wyk.

Referee: Brendon Pickerill

Source: stuff.co.nz

That’s a wrap. Be there next week as we open the 25th Super Rugby season at home against @ChiefsRugby

Friday 31st January, kick off 7.05pm!#BluesAllDay #WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/N2cpjPwUiu

— The Blues (@BluesRugbyTeam) January 24, 2020