Blues finish SuperRugby trials with Hurricanes win

Auckland based Super Rugby franchise the Blues completed their Super Rugby pre-season schedule with a 32-29 victory over fellow New Zealand franchise the Hurricanes.

The Blues were outscored by three tries to five but the Ihaia West and Simon Hickey effectively kicked the Blues to a confidence boosting victory ahead of the 2015 season.

The Blues will look forward to returning to QBE Stadium at North Harbour after their 32-29 win over the Hurricanes, giving up a late try after dominating the second half.

“It was a big step up from last week’s game especially in how we used and protected our own ball,” said coach John Kirwan on the Blues site.

“The set piece was still quite good although we need to be more accurate and need to work harder on our defence as we were broken open a few times.

“That said it was encouraging and now we can continue to work hard and look forward to giving our fans something to cheer about here at North Harbour next weekend.”

The Blues opened the scoring when big midfielder George Moala broke open the defence to score before the Hurricanes found holes in the defence to grab three tries. The Blues found Ihaia West on target with the boot while Ben Lam scored a runaway try from an Akira Ioane break to level things at 19-19 at half time.

The Blues, with a number of changes, shored up the defence and pressured the Hurricanes in the second half rewarded with a try to Blake Gibson with another by Tevita Li disallowed.

The home team moved out to a 32-24 lead before giving up a final try on fulltime.

The Blues meet the Chiefs in the season opener next Saturday at QBE Stadium at 7.35pm

Final Score Blues 32 (19) Hurricanes 29 (19)

Scorers

Blues
Tries : George Moala, Ben Lam, Blake Gibson
Pen : Ihaia West 4, Simon Hickey
Con : Ihaia West
Drop :

Hurricanes
Tries : Blade Thomson, Brad Shields, Artie Savea2, Vaea Fifita
Pen :
Con : Jason Woodward 2
Drop :

Teams

Blues

1. Tony Woodcock , 2. James Parsons , 3. Angus Ta’avao , 4. Hayden Triggs , 5. Culum Retallick , 6. Akira Ioane , 7. Brendon O’Connor , 8. Steven Luatua , 9. Jimmy Cowan , 10. Ihaia West , 11. Tevita Li , 12. Geroge Moala , 13. Hamish Northcott , 14. Ben Lam , 15. Lolagi Visinia

Replacements : Greg Pleasants-Tate , Matt Moulds , Sam Prattley , Nic Mayhew , Will Lloyd , Joe Edwards , Blake Gibson , Kara Pryor , Simon Hickey , Francis Saili , Pita Ahki , Matt Vaega , Frank Halai , Bryn Hall , Jamison Gibson-Park , Josh Bekhuis

Hurricanes

1. Reggie Goodes,2. Brayden Mitchell,3. Jeffery Toomaga-Allen,4. Jeremy Thrush,5. James Broadhurst,6. Brad Shields,7. Ardie Savea,8. Blade Thomson,9. TJ Perenara,10. James Marshall,11. Jason Woodward,12. Rey Lee-Lo,13. Matt Proctor,14. Cory Jane,15. Nehe Milner-Skudder

Replacements :16. Leni Apisai,17. Chris Eves,18. Ben May,19. Geoff Cridge,20. Vaea Fifita,21. Mark Abbott,22. Callum Gibbins,23. Frae Wilson,24. Otere Black,25. Vince Aso

With thanks to the Blues for the match report.