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- The Blues have won four of their last six Super Rugby games against the Bulls (L2), the two losses sandwiched in between back-to-back victories.
- The Blues have won 11 of their 12 home games against the Bulls in Super Rugby history (L1), over half of those wins (7) have seen a final margin of 13+.
- The Blues have won five of their last six Super Rugby games on home turf, including a 23-8 win over the Chiefs in their last home fixture.
- The Blues have trailed by a double-digit margin in four of their last five Super Rugby games against South African opposition, only once managing to bounce back for a win in those games (L3).
- Each of the Bulls’ last 10 Super Rugby games has seen the result alternate between wins and losses (W5, L5), with the Pretorian side coming into this fixture on the back of a 22-10 defeat to the Brumbies.
- The Bulls have won only one of their last 14 Super Rugby games played outside South Africa; a 32-17 win over the Rebels this season their only triumph in that span.
- The Blues boast the best scrum success rate (97%) of any team this Super Rugby season and have also lost a league-low total of three scrums.
- The Bulls have kicked a league-high 42 penalty goals in Super Rugby 2019 and are one of only two teams (Lions) to have slotted a successful drop goal.
- Rieko Ioane (Blues) has made 25 clean breaks thus far in Super Rugby 2019, the joint-most of any player alongside the Crusaders’ Sevu Reece.
- The Bulls’ Duane Vermeulen has won 20 turnovers thus far in Super Rugby 2019, more than any other player in the competition and eight more than Blues’ best Dalton Papali’i.
The Blues have played the Bulls 18 times in Super rugby since 1998 and the Blues have won 11 matches, lost 7 times and drawn none
The Blues 11 wins out of 18 matches gives them a record of winning 61% of their matches against the Bulls regardless of venue.
This weekend the match will be played in Auckland which is home for the Blues and the venue where the teams have met 8 times.
In those 8 matches played in Auckland the Blues have won 7 matches and lost 1. This gives the Blues a record of winning 88% of their matches against the Bulls at home.
The average score when the Blues play the Bulls in Auckland is : Blues 36 Bulls 19.
The Blues have won the last two matches against the Bulls in Auckland and the Bulls have not won in the city since 2013.
Average score: Blues 33 Bulls 26
Last five results
Sat, 25 Mar 2017 Blues 38 v 14 Bulls @Auckland
Fri, 15 May 2015 Blues 23 v 18 Bulls @Auckland
Sat, 08 Mar 2014 Blues 22 v 38 Bulls @Pretoria
Sun, 10 Mar 2013 Blues 21 v 28 Bulls @Auckland
Sat, 10 Mar 2012 Blues 29 v 23 Bulls @Pretoria
Blues overall record against the Bulls
Played 18 , Wins 11, Losses 7 , Draws 0
Teams
Blues
1 Alex Hodgman, 2 James Parsons, 3 Ofa Tuungafasi, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 5 Scott Scrafton, 6 Tom Robinson, 7 Blake Gibson ©, 8 Akira Ioane; 9 Jonathan Ruru, 10 Harry Plummer, 11 Rieko Ioane, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 13 TJ Faiane, 14 Caleb Clarke, 15 Melani Nanai.
Replacements: 16 Leni Apisai, 17 Lua Li, 18 Marcel Renata, 19 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 20 Hoskins Sotutu, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Otere Black, 23 Tanielu Tele’a.
Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Rosko Spekman, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Replacements : 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Ruan Steenkamp, 21 Andre Warner, 22 JT Jackson, 23 Divan Rossouw
Match Officials and details
Date : Friday 31 May
Venue : Eden Park, Auckland
Kick Off local: 19:35
Referee: Mike Fraser
Assistant Ref 1:Brendon Pickerill
Assistant Ref 2:Dan Waenga
TMO :Ben Skeen
