Savea stars as Moana move into contention

Super Rugby Pacific round-up

- By BEN JAYCOCK

ARDIE Savea’s mesmerising performance guided Moana Pasifika past the Blues at Mount Smart Stadium and above them in the standings to maintain their play-off pursuit.

Moana’s hopes for a maiden finals berth were boosted significantly by their 27-21 victory over the reigning champions.

Winger Kyren Taumoefolau was at his brilliant best as he crossed for a special hat-trick, while captain Savea produced a display for the ages; 21 carries, 117 metres made, four offloads, seven tackles, two turnovers won and a try, to inspire the victory.

As a result, Moana jumped the Blues into sixth place, given they have six wins to the Blues’ five.

"We worked really hard on our defence — we knew where they were coming," said Moana coach Tana Umaga.

"We just had to weather the storm. We talked about it a lot; if we could wear them down, we know we can get into the right parts of the field and do some magic with the ball in our hands and you saw that tonight."

Patrick Pellegrini’s boot was the lone score of the first quarter, but the Blues responded with pressure via their rolling maul resulting in a penalty try and a yellow card to Tito Tuipulotu for bringing it down.