Blues hold on in battle at the top

BLUES held on with their backs to their try line as they edged past the Hurricanes 31-27 to leapfrog their Kiwi rivals and move top of the table.

- BEN JAYCOCK

In a match between the longtime New Zealand rivals, the Hurricanes had the last attacking opportunity and battered the Blues’ goal line in the final moments of a match between the first- and second-place teams after 12 of 15 regular-season rounds.

Blues finally won a defensive turnover and kicked the ball out to end four minutes after fulltime to take pole position which they will likely hold on to for home advantage throughout the play-offs.

“We put a premium on defence and in tough times like that, that’s when it counts,” Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu said. “We want to back our defence and trust it and it paid off in the end.”

Hurricanes came close to winning the match when Super Rugby’s record try-scorer, scrumhalf TJ Perenara got the 64th of his career in the 68th minute, putting the Hurricanes only a point behind the Blues.

But fly-half Harry Plummer kicked a penalty soon after – his fifth goal from five attempts – to stretch the Blues lead to four points and they held on.

“Rugby’s a cruel game,” Hurricanes captain Brad Shields said. “It was pretty tense which is what we expected. I think we let them into the game too early and the fact we managed to stay in it was good.”

The Blues scored after only five minutes through centre Bryce Heem but the Hurricanes struck back with a try from Shields. A try to Cole Forbes put the Blues ahead 14-5 before Hurricanes winger Josh Moorby cut the lead to 1410 at half-time.