The Blues have played the Hurricanes 36 times in Super Rugby since 1996, the Blues have won 17 matches, lost 18 times, and drawn once.
The Blues’ 17 wins out of 36 matches gives them a record of winning 47% of their matches against the Hurricanesregardless of venue.
- Leon McDonald’s side has won three of their last four Super Rugby games against the Hurricanes, including two wins in which they had trailed at half-time on the day.
- The Blues beat the Canes 30-20 in their most recent meeting at Eden Park, ending a streak of five consecutive losses against them on their own patch.
- The Blues have scored 60% (9/15) of their total tries in the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season via forwards, the highest ratio of any team; in fact, their six tries across their last two games have all been scored by forwards.
- The Hurricanes have both won (7) and conceded (12) the most turnovers per game of any team in the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season.
- Rieko Ioane has beaten 10 defenders within his own half this Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign, the joint-most of any player in the competition and more than twice as many as Hurricanes’ best Salesi Rayasi (4).
Match detail
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1.00: PEEEEP! We are underway at Eden Park, Auckland.
2.00: Luteru Tolai is pinged for a late tackle. Jordie Barrett kicks to the 22.
4.00: Superb work by Dalton Papali’i, who strips the ball from Dane Coles following a nine-phase attack. The Blues go down the field before a knock-on kills the counter-attack.
6.00: Hoskins Sotutu is pinged for going off his feet and playing the ball after making the tackle.
7.00: Incredible work by Dalton Papali’i, who again makes the turnover inside his 22 to kick-start a counter-attack. Fraser Armstrong is nailed by the ref at the ruck, allowing Otere Black to kick to the corner.
10.00: The Blues drive towards the line, but Scott Scrafton gets through the middle of the maul to win the turnover –– superb work by the lock-forward.
12.00: Hurricanes get the scrum, and end up with a free-kick after an early shove by the Blues.
13.00: Sam Darry knocks on at the lineout, scrum to the visitors on the Blues’ 10m.
16.00: Caleb Clarke stops Salesi Rayasi, who started the attack. After 10 phases, Barrett looks to Rayasi with a crossfield kick, but Clarke takes the catch; however, the Blues were offsides.
17.00: YELLOW CARD! Du’Plessis Kirifi is off because of a dangerous cleanout at the previous ruck. Barrett was about to take a shot at goal. 0-0
19.00: The Canes get another penalty, this time near halfway, and Barrett will take a shot at goal.
20.00: MISS! The kick is just wide of the lefthand post from 53 metres out. 0-0
22.00: Another mistake at the scrum by the Blues gives the Hurricanes another attacking platform inside the home team’s half.
23.00: Good scrum by the Blues winning a penalty. Black clears to the 22.
24.00: A botched lineout by the hosts sees the Canes win the turnover, and Barrett’s booming kick is knocked out into touch by Clarke from inside his 22.
25.00: Ngani Laumape’s grubber is the wrong call, the centre should have played the pass to the outside man; line drop-out.
26.00: Gerard Cowley-Tuioti does not roll away. Barrett can run down the clock taking a shot from in front.
27.00: PENALTY! Barrett opens the scoring. 0-3
30.00: The Hurricanes managed the sin-binning period expertly, running the clock down while taking the lead. Both teams are being done at the breakdown by the referee. Du’Plessis Kirifi is hard done by; Black kicks to the corner.
31.00: PENALTY TRY! The Blues bulldoze the Canes’ pack. Several Hurricanes infringe; however, Ardie Savea, who looked to come through the middle, is also sin-binned. 7-3
32.00: YELLOW CARD! Ardie Savea. 7-3
33.00: Clarke again makes a mistake with a high ball, this time losing the restart forward inside his 22.
35.00: The Hurricanes win a penalty for offsides, it’s right in front of the posts.
37.00: PENALTY! Barrett doubles his tally. 7-6
38.00: Tyrel Lomax strays offsides at the ruck, it is poor from the prop. Black will call for the tee.
39.00: PENALTY! Black makes no mistake. 10-6
41.00: A poor pass by Black is intercepted before the Hurricanes win a late penalty after the turnover. Barrett has a chance to make it a one-point game.
42.00: PENALTY! Barrett slots the penalty. 10-9
The halftime score was Blues 10 Hurricanes 9
41.00: PEEEEP! We are back underway in Auckland, New Zealand.
43.00: Both teams starting the second half with multiple handling errors and turnovers. This is a really poor game.
45.00: A penalty at the back of the scrum will allow Barrett to take a long-distance attempt.
47.00: PENALTY! Massive kick by the fullback, who mishit the kick too. 10-12
50.00: Jonathan Ruru is held-up in-goal, so it’s a goal-line drop-out.
51.00: TRY! TJ Faiane is over for the score. Stephen Perofeta made the score. The fullback slipped Reed Prinsep’s weak tackle, beat Dane Coles, drew Barrett before playing in Faiane. 15-12
52.00: CONVERSION! Black adds the extras. 17-12
56.00: Scrum-penalty to the Canes after the Blues collapse the set-piece, Barrett kicks to the corner this time.
57.00: Canes should have taken the points because Sotutu wins the penalty at the breakdown.
60.00: Ardie Savea knocks on at the ruck after Julian Savea’s midfield break. The “BUS” almost beat all the Blues’ defenders but got scragged inside the 22 by Ruru. Canes will be kicking themselves.
63.00: Big scrum by the Blues, who won the penalty.
65.00: TRY! The Blues go side-to-side, end-to-end. Rieko Ioane’s line-break takes out three defenders before a well-timed floated pass, to the touchline, sends Mark Telea away in the corner. 22-12
67.00: CONVERSION! Black slots the sideline kick. 24-12
70.00: time is running out for the visitors, who don’t have any cutting edge, tonight.
73.00: Holland’s charges botch another opportunity near the line after another poor handling mistake. The visitors have been poor.
75.00: The Canes are awarded a penalty; can they do it?
77.00: TRY! Reed Prinsep crashes over in the corner. 24-17
78.00: MISS! Barrett cannot convert. 24-17
80.00: Penalty to the home team, Black will step up.
81.00: PENALTY! Black’s second penalty takes away the losing bonus point for the Hurricanes. 27-17
FULL TIME
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The final score is Blues 27 (10) Hurricanes 17 (9)
Scorers
Blues
Tries – Penalty Try, Faiane, Telea
Pen – Black (2)
Con – Black (2)
Drop –
Cards –
Hurricanes
Tries – Prinsep
Pen – J. Barrett (4)
Con –
Drop –
Cards – Kirifi (Yellow, 17′), A. Savea (Yellow, 32′)
Match Officials
Referee: Brendon Pickerill
Assistant Ref 1: Paul Williams
Assistant Ref 2: James Doleman
TMO: Ben O’Keeffe
Teams
Blues
15 Stephen Perofeta, 14 Mark Telea, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Otere Black, 9 Sam Nock, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Dalton Papali’i, 6 Tom Robinson (captain), 5 Sam Darry, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 2 Luteru Tolai, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe
Replacements: 16 Leni Apisai, 17 Alex Hodgman, 18 Nepo Laulala, 19 Josh Goodhue, 20 Akira Ioane, 21 Jonathan Ruru, 22 Harry Plummer, 23 AJ Lam
Hurricanes
15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Salesi Rayasi, 10 Orbyn Leger, 9 Luke Campbell, 8 Ardie Savea (captain), 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Reed Prinsep, 5 Scott Scrafton, 4 James Blackwell, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Fraser Armstrong
Replacements: Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Tevita Mafileo, 19 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 20 Devan Flanders, 21 Jonathan Taumateine, 22 Peter Umaga-Jensen, 23 Wes Goosen
