Hurricanes
15
Match Complete
Blues
24
| 73 |  | |||
| 68 |  | O. Black | ||
| J. Barrett |  | 64 | ||
| J. V. Wyk | | 62 | ||
| 56 | | O. Black | ||
| 55 | | M. Telea | ||
| J. Barrett | | 38 | ||
| 36 | | O. Black | ||
| 36 | | A. Ioane | ||
| B. Lam | | 1 |
| 2 | Tries | 3 | ||
| 1 | Conversions | 2 | ||
| 1 | Penalty Goals | 1 | ||
| 0 | Field Goals | 0 |
The Hurricanes will welcome the Auckland Blues to Wellington in Round 6 of Super Rugby as both sides look to build winning streaks and momentum. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of what promises to be an exciting match starting from 4:55 pm AEDT on Saturday.
Both sides are bringing in some of their top talent for this match as the coaches look to select on form while balancing workload for players and avoiding risk of burn out later in the season.
For the home side, there are a couple of changes with Jordie Barrett starting at fullback while Isaia Walker-Leawere will play in the second row, where he replaces James Blackwell.
The Canes are coming off a rampant win over the Sunwolves last week which was their third win in a row this season after losing their opening game. They will be expecting a far tougher challenge this week as the Blues look to build on their excellent South African tour where they won both their games.
The Auckland side will definitely have grown in confidence but they have had a frustrating preparation week as disrupted travel back home has meant that they’ve only had two training sessions ahead of this match.
Blues fans will be excited to see Akira Ioane make his first start of the year. Ioane has earned the opportunity to replace Hoskins Sotutu who has had a great early season, and the Canes will be concerned about the power in the Blues back row.
Ofa Tuungafasi also gets a start in the front row and the forward battle between these two sides will be crucial to the outcome of the match. The ‘Canes have some fantastic talent in their backs but if the Blues forwards can beat up their opponents, give Otere Black good quick ball to play with and he can deliver another good performance, then the visitors could really stand a chance.
Prediction
The Canes are definitely favourites going into this one but there’s something developing in this Blues squad that makes them much more of a threat than recent seasons. The Auckland side can take this one with a powerful forward performance.
Blues by 5.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of what promises to be an exciting match starting from 4:55 pm AEDT on Saturday.
Game information
Where: Sky Stadium, Wellington
Date: Saturday 7th March
When: Kick off 5:05 pm AEDT
TV: Fox Sports
Online: Kayo Sports, Foxtel GO
Betting: Hurricanes – 1.40, Blues – 2.94
Referee: Mike Fraser
Assistant Referees: Rasta Rasivhenge, Brendon Pickerill
TMO: Shane McDermott
2020 form: Hurricanes LWWBW, Blues LWLWW
Squads
Hurricanes
15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Vince Aso, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Fletcher Smith, 9 TJ Perenara (c), 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Scott Scrafton, 4 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Xavier Numia
Replacements
16 Dane Coles, 17 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 18 Alex Fidow, 19 James Blackwell, 20 Devan Flanders, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Billy Proctor, 23 Wes Goosen
Blues
15 Stephen Perofeta, 14 Joe Marchant, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Mark Telea, 10 Otere Black, 9 Sam Nock, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Tom Robinson, 5 Jacob Pierce, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu (c), 3 Ofa Tuungafasi, 2 Kurt Eklund, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe
Replacements
16 James Parsons, 17 Ezekiel Lindenmuth, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 20 Tony Lamborn, 21 Jonathan Ruru, 22 Harry Plummer, 23 Matt Duffie
Offside
Roar Rookie
Agree and the only reason James Parson still "plays" for the Blues is because nobody else in the world has offered him more than 50 cents. Absolute total and complete waste of space.
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Agreed with you re Ruru last week too. Sam Nock may not be in the top echelon of HB’s in NZ, he sits behind A Smith, TJP, Weber, Hall and TTT but he was good with the baby Blacks and just needs time on the park imo.
Mark
Guest
The Blues were very lucky the Canes where down to 12 - they would have lost otherwise This is not a well coached team This is not a team with quality players Reiko is NOT a centre - he never was and he never will be Akira was pretty anonymous most of the game Perofeta and Black were simply awful Stop dreaming about the playoffs - they still have too many games against other NZ teams where they will be exposed Beating a couple of extremely poor SA sides and the Tahs means nothing MacDonalds only saving grace is - he isn't as bad a coach as Mauger
taylorman
Roar Guru
Was a great run for the try though. Good seeing blindsides carrying like that. A real presence.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Oh stop it????
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
The barretts are too talented a rugby family to carry on like they do at times. Cynical play - unsporting stuff. Good decision we the yellow and penalty try.
Lux Interior
Roar Rookie
He's unlikely to ever be one of those refs that goes unnoticed for periods of a game. I don't think either side really settled at all in this match.
Faith
Roar Rookie
I really hate to bring in referees to any discussion but Fraser is unpredictable and stops games too much ... one always feels as if he'll change the game single-handedly ...
Faith
Roar Rookie
Also, keep Ruru the headless chook from starting ... terribly player.
Faith
Roar Rookie
What was impressive about this Blues was just the defensive attitude. Two seasons ago they would have been 3 scores behind a Canes with 80 per cent possession in the first 30. Based on just that they have turned some kind of corner even if they just don't have the kind of assurance they need to show when playing 13 men. That is no small thing. Th Canes threw everything at them and they did not bend. Black is very good at steering them around. I'm not sure about Rieko at centre - he holds on to the ball when he should be passing. Telea is a major find for the Blues. On this alone Blues have to implode not to make the playoffs - if they continue with this steel they are showing it'll be tough for them not to make that. Canes - discipline and finishing. If they work on that they will give most teams kittens ...
Double Agent
Guest
Blues looked better when it was 15 v 15!! The more the Hurricanes lost players the worse the Blues played. I reckon if the Canes got down to 9 or 10 they would've won easily :laughing:
Lux Interior
Roar Rookie
I didn’t have a dog in the fight and the cards were the Hurricanes doing. But I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a game that Mike Fraser has refereed. I can’t put my finger on what he does or doesn’t do but it usually results in an odd type of game. Back when he was reffing NPC, I ended up not bothering to watch games he reffed. This game had the Mike Fraser feel to it as well. Just odd.
Digby
Roar Guru
Congrats mate, great win and a great away period for your boys :thumbup:
Digby
Roar Guru
Discipline was appalling. Fifita cars was really inexcusable, after fighting hard to get back in the lead with 14, to concede that penalty and card was just awful, and not his first with his technique looking at the Stormers game as well. Really dissapointing. Can’t see him getting back into the AB mix either.
Tough one for the Hurricanes, discipline let them down, Blues are starting to gain confidence.
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
One man advantage for 34 mins = big handicap... then against 12 players for a while Canes did well to hold the Blues down to 24
Oliver Matthews
Expert
FINAL SCORE!!! Hurricanes: 15 Blues: 24 The Blues have picked up another win away from home as they have downed the Hurricanes 24 to 15 in a game full of incident. It would be easy to see the news that the Canes were down to 12 men at one point thanks to one red card and two yellows and assume the Blues only won because of that, but the reality is that the Blues had done a lot of hard work before those incidents to be in contention and then took advantage. The Canes started so well in the opening minutes and it looked like a Blues side who had only just arrived back from South Africa was going to struggle to keep up with the rampant home side. But the Canes didn't combine accuracy with their pace and power and come half time the Blues were only one point away from their conference rivals. With the red card of Tyrel Lomax early in the second half it looked like the Canes would be in trouble but they managed a lovely worked try off the back of an attacking scrum and took the lead with less than 20 minutes to go. But then the inevitable pressure that the Blues were able to exert came to fruition and with two more yellow cards coming the Canes way the Blues were able to get the points they needed to wrap up a good win. Would the Blues have won if the Canes had remained at 15? Not sure but that doesn't matter now. They will kick on and host the Lions next week where they will fancy another win. The Canes will be very frustrated with themselves. They fought valiantly against the odds when the cards started flowing from the ref's pocket but they know they should have been so far ahead by that point that they couldn't be caught. They didn't do enough in the first half when they had so much possession to put the game beyond the Blues and will be very disappointed. Loads more rugby on The Roar this weekend with the Rebels taking on the Lions in a few minutes so get involved and thanks for all the comments. Have a great weekend.
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
After the poor start in SA, I was positively surprised by the Canes in the last few rounds. Looked like they are brewing something potent. And lots of things to like with today's performance too. But the niggly side of the Canes has been present since round one. With the wrong ref, wrong opponent, wrong match, it will always come back to bite, especially when it is too blatant.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
hmmm...didn't pick that result!
WithTheDawn
Roar Rookie
One of our first real tests and we failed. Chiefs and Crusaders coming up...could be a rough run.