The Blues extended their winning streak over the Western Force to four straight Super Rugby wins with a 13-17 victory at a rain-soaked nib Stadium in Perth.
The Blues were on their way home from South Africa where they beat the Southern Kings but lost to the Lions in Johannesburg.
The loss for the Force is their 9th in 11 matches this season and they remain in 10th place overall and have yet to win at home in 2016.
The victory for the Blues is their sixth from 11 matches this season which is twice as many as they achieved in 2015.
The Blues dominated the opening half of the contest with tries from Jerome Kaino and Tevita Li but in the second half they tired and had to defend for long periods.
Force skipper Matt Hodgson ploughed over from close range in the 54th minute and former Reds centre Ben Tapuai kicked the home side to within four points with a penalty goal with 16 minutes.
Force were in the Blues’ quarter for the final stages before they lost possession in a driving maul allowing the New Zealanders to kill off the game.
The Blues saw out the game with 14 men after replacement forward Nic Mayhew was yellow-carded for collapsing a Force maul close to the Blues’ try-line.
The win did little to help Blues lowly standing in the New Zealand conference despite them bouncing back after being thumped 43-5 by the Golden Lions in South Africa last week.
It was again more heartbreak for Western Force, who are still without a home victory this season.
The Force had been aiming for rare consecutive wins, after beating the Sunwolves in Japan two weeks ago to snap a seven-game losing streak.
Next week the Force travel to Melbourne as they play the Rebels on Sunday. The Blues return home to Auckland where they host the Crusaders on Saturday.
Final Score Force 13 (3) Blues 17 (17)
Scorers
Force
Tries – M.Hodgson
Pen – I.Prior, B.Tapuai
Con – B.Tapuai
Drop –
Cards –
Blues
Tries – J.Kaino, T.Li
Pen – I.West
Con – I.West 2
Drop –
Cards – C.Faumuina (40th min yellow), Nic Mayhew (77th min yellow)
Match Officials
Referee: Jamie Nutbrown
Assistant Ref 1:Rohan Hoffmann
Assistant Ref 2:Jordan Way
TMO : Peter Marshall
Teams
Western Force
1 Francois Van Wyk , 2 Harry Scoble , 3 Guy Millar , 4 Ross Haylett-Petty , 5 Adam Coleman , 6 Brynard Stander , 7 Matt Hodgson (c) , 8 Ben McCalman , 9 Alby Mathewson , 10 Ian Prior , 11 Luke Morahan , 12 Kyle Godwin , 13 Ben Tapuai , 14 Marcel Brache , 15 Dane Haylett-Petty
Replacements : 16. Anaru Rangi , 17. Pek Cowan , 18. Tetera Faulkner , 19. Rory Walton , 20. Angus Cottrell , 21. Ryan Louwrens , 22. Luke Burton , 23. Semisi Masirewa
Blues
Ofa Tu’ungafasi, James Parsons (c), Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu, Josh Bekhuis, Jerome Kaino, Tanerau Latimer, Steven Luatua; Billy Guyton, Ihaia West, Tevita Li, Piers Francis, George Moala, Matt Duffie, Melani Nanai.
Replacements: Quentin MacDonald, Nic Mayhew, Sione Mafileo, Hoani Matenga, Kara Pryor, Bryn Hall, Male Sa’u, Lolagi Visinia
