It wasn’t pretty but the Blues retained their second place on the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa points table when subduing the Hurricanes to claim a 27-17 win at Eden Park on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Play rarely flowed in a scrappy encounter where the superior defence of the Blues was matched by their execution when the opportunities for tries presented themselves.<\/p>\n
Up only 10-9 at halftime, the Blues looked to develop their game more out of their pace in the second half.<\/p>\n
Constant ball retention while advancing on the advantage line finally provided a breakthrough for the Blues. It followed a multi-phase movement after 50 minutes that saw replacement halfback Jonathan Ruru held up over the line.<\/p>\n
The Blues won the goalline dropout and from a midfield ruck first five-eighths Otere Black passed to fullback Stephen Perofeta who, as he had several times earlier in the game, found a gap and then drew the defence to fed second five-eighths TJ Faiane in for the try.<\/p>\n
It was typical of the Hurricanes’ night that a superb break by Julian Savea came to nothing when brother Ardie knocked the ball on from the ruck. It was potentially the Hurricanes’ best scoring chance in the first 60 minutes of the game.<\/p>\n
And that was rammed home when a penalty from the restart cleared the Blues line. They held the ball in the maul and then put pressure on through a high ball, well followed, with flanker Dalton Papalii rounding out a fine game with a strong break.<\/p>\n