The Blues have roundly beaten the Melbourne Rebels 59-7 in a trial match at Bell Park in Auckland on Thursday.
The Blues capitalised on an inexperienced Rebels line-up with four tries in the final 20 minutes putting the game beyond doubt in front of a bumper crowed at the Pakuranga Rugby Club.
“I think the scoreline was pretty indicative of the way Auckland played tonight,” Rebels Head Coach Tony McGahan said post-match.
“I thought they were excellent all the way through. I was really impressed with the power and the pace they played with tonight and you saw that with a couple of class moments from (Rene) Ranger in the backline.”
Two converted tries from Jack Ram and Nick Mayhew put the hosts ahead after the half-hour before Mitch Inman responded for the Rebels with a try under the posts on the stroke of half-time.
Costly errors and turnovers stifled any momentum in attack for the Rebels as the Blues scored seven unanswered tries in the second half against the visiting side featuring a host of extended playing squad members and local club players.
“It was a bit of a challenge for us to get some numbers this week,” McGahan said. “We had two of three guys from club rugby who only had one training session.
“I thought the first half we were in there but we had too many individual mistakes which took a bit of momentum away from us.
“That result certainly won’t hurt us, we’ll worry about the process, but we were certainly left catching up in the last 15 minutes.
“That’s what pre-season is about and we’ve got a lot of players coming back in next week and should have a full squad back together for the trial match against Samoa in two weeks.”
The Melbourne Rebels return home on Friday ahead of the final trial match against Samoa at AAMI Park on Thursday 18 February.
canadiankiwi
Guest
What position did Rene Ranger and Goerge Moala each line up at vs the Rebels?
Taylorman
Guest
Sharks Toulon match being showed live on Sky now. Interesting. Pat Lambie and Bryan Habana leading their sides out....
Squirrel
Guest
Blues a dark horse for the championship. Top 3 tahs. , blues and Stormers
soapit
Guest
not too many shoulders in there. compare to the force
Mike Julz
Guest
He's definitely the no.12 for the All Blacks. Him with Crotty or Fekitoa in the centre's would be a great combination. I'll be damned if Hansen passes up on Ranger. No.12 is his position.
CUW
Guest
last week Tana Umaga was happy with the progress 3 blacks were making - Ranger, Tuipolatu and Luatua. they are young and skilled guys deemed good enuf to play for the best team in the world. the season depends on how well these skilled / experienced guys fire for the blues weekly. last season they had a very good team - ON PAPER. around 10 allblacks. still they were table props. this season they have a young but xciting team - some 7s players some u20 players. hoping for a better return :D
CUW
Guest
" “It was a bit of a challenge for us to get some numbers this week,” McGahan said. “We had two of three guys from club rugby who only had one training session." could someone shed more light on this?? i mean aren't practice games pre-planned? isn't the idea of practice games to give practice to the "TEAM" and see how the combinations and strategies work? why bother to play if ur squad members are not available!!! and how come with a few weeks to go to the start of the season ur squad players are not available??? seems blues under Tana took this seriously though.
wardad
Guest
I have looked forwards to his return and will surely be an asset at inside centre if in form . an exciting player to watch wing or centre .
wardad
Guest
T-rolling requires neither facts nor substance.
Die hard
Roar Rookie
Never put anything into nor take anything from these games Gator. They are just what they are. Looseners for new teams looking to shake of rust and introduce new ideas and players. The Rebels were holding on well for a bit till the better players arrived. All said though, there is a lot to like within this Blues team. If they gel they could become a real force once again. Still the concerns over first five but the halves look better.
Akari
Roar Rookie
Care to provide some details to support your claim, Ken?
taylorman
Roar Guru
Some of the footage is on You tube but the Rebels brought a very thin side over and the Blues had several of the Abs playing including Ranger. They also get back the Ioanes and Ben Lam back next week for SXV duty.
Ken
Guest
Overated player..Cant tackle ..
Stray Gator
Roar Rookie
I don't know how to interpret this result. Or, for that matter, the very muted lead-up to the '16 season wrought by the new owners - the vibe this year can best be described as subsonic. Work pressures kept me from attending the recent open training day. If anyone here did attend, I'd be very interested in getting their thoughts on what they saw and perceived.
mapu
Guest
cher cuz Rene.AB s again.