The Auckland-based Blues held on with their backs to their goal line after the fulltime siren to beat the Wellington-based Hurricanes 31-27 Saturday in the match of the season in Super Rugby Pacific.
In a match between the long-time 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.
The second-place Blues finally won a defensive turnover and kicked the ball out of play to end the match almost four minutes after the fulltime siren. They now move past the Hurricanes into first place and likely will hold that place which gives them home advantage throughout the playoffs.
“We often put a premium on defense and in tough times like that, that’s when it counts,” Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu said. “We want to back our defense and trust it and fortunately it paid off in the end.”
The biggest match of the season drew a daytime crowd of 26,000 to Auckland’s Eden Park and lived up to its billing. Fans were riveted by superb defense from both teams, lead changes, some contentious decisions and a constantly narrow margin between the teams.
Had the Hurricanes managed to score and to win, it would have been deserved as much as the Blues’ win, such was the ferocity of the contest. The Hurricanes who already were depleted by injuries to key players lost three more before the start, including captain Billy Proctor and All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax, the cornerstone of their scrum.
They came close to winning the match when scrumhalf T.J. Perenara scored the 64th try of his career in the 68th minute, putting the Hurricanes only a point behind the Blues and increasing his lead on Super Rugby’s all-time try-scorers list.
But flyhalf Harry Plummer kicked a penalty soon after — his fifth goal from five attempts — to stretch the Blues’ lead to four points and they just held on.
The Blues repeatedly chose to kick for touch from penalties during the match and were repelled by the Hurricanes’ organized forward defense. With Plummer in such good kicking form and in hindsight, the Blues might have benefited from kicking for goal more often. Still, the Blues managed to find a way to win and the Hurricanes fell just short.
“Rugby’s a cruel game,” Hurricanes captain Brad Shields said. “It was pretty tense which is exactly 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 center Bryce Heem but the Hurricanes struck back almost immediately with a try to Shields.
A try to fullback Cole Forbes put the Blues ahead 14-5 before a try to Hurricanes winger Josh Moorby cut the lead to 14-10 at halftime.
The Hurricanes took the lead with a try to backrower Peter Lakai early in the second half but the Blues rallied with a try to winger Mark Telea and led 21-17.
Jordie Barrett narrowed the lead to a point with a penalty but the Blues had their biggest lead at eight points after a contentious try to prop Angus Ta’avao who appeared to score in a double movement.
Perenara’s try set up a thrilling finish.
"These are the games you want to be a part of," Tuipulotu said. "It was tough and a see-saw battle right down to the wire."
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