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Highlanders secure sensational win over gutsy Blues after thrilling NZ derby match in Dunedin

February 23, 2018

The Highlanders have overcome the Blues 41-34 after a high-octane match that went right down to the wire at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin tonight.

FULLTIME - HIGHLANDERS 41 BLUES 34

The Highlanders have come away victorious as they manage to hold off the Blues with their last ditch effort in the final play of the match. They hold up the Blues just outside their try-line and earn themselves a turnover.

Waisake Naholo of the Highlanders and Rieko Ioane of the Blues contest for the ball during a Super Rugby match played at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand on Friday 23 February 2018. Copyright Image: Joe Allison / www.photosport.nz

79 mins: HIGHLANDERS 41 BLUES 34

Last throw of the dice for the Blues with one minute on the clock. They have an attacking scrum deep inside their own half.

74 mins: HIGHLANDERS 41 BLUES 34

NO TRY! The Blues manage to hold out the Highlanders and they earn a turnover with some great counter-rucking. The Blues spread the ball wide and try go the length of the field. Augustine Pulu put in a smart box kick for Rieko Ioane to chase but the ball just bounces into touch. Had it stayed in Ioane would have been in for his first try of the match. Five minutes remaining in the match, can the Blues make a comeback?  

68 mins: HIGHLANDERS 41 BLUES 34

THREE!  Fletcher Smith has taken over the kicking duties for the Landers and they now lead by seven points with 11 minutes to go in the match.

66 mins: HIGHLANDERS 38 BLUES 34

THREE! The Highlanders are penalised for an offside play and the Blues go for a kick at goal. Bryn Gatland fires the ball in between the goal posts and the Blues now trail by four points.

Teihorangi Walden crosses for his second try during the Highlanders and Blues Super Rugby match. week 2 game held at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand. 23 February 2018. Copyright Image: Derek Morrison / www.photosport.nz

61 mins: HIGHLANDERS 38 BLUES 31

TRY! The Highlanders strike again! Rob Thompson puts in a cheeky chip and and Teihorangi Walden regathers the ball and slams it hard over the try-line to give the Highlanders the lead. Lima Sopoaga slots the conversion from in front of the sticks.

57 mins: HIGHLANDERS 31 BLUES 31

TRY! The Highlanders get a tight head scrum with Teihorangi Walden running a sublime line off Aaron Smith and the Highlanders halfback fires a perfect pass for Walden who strolls over to score for the Landers.

Lima Sopoaga evens up the scores with pin-point kick at goal.

55 mins: HIGHLANDERS 24 BLUES 31

TURNOVER! A massive moment in the game as Patrick Tuipulotu earning his side scrum deep inside his team's 22m line. Tuipulotu manages to hold up Luke Whitelock in the maul and the Blues manage to hold out the Highlanders for now.

54 mins: HIGHLANDERS 24 BLUES 31

YELLOW CARD! Antonio Kiri Kiri has been penalised and sent to the bin for a high tackle on Highlanders' first-five Lima Sopoaga. The Highlanders turn down a shot at goal and kick to touch. They have an attacking line-out from 10m out of the try-line.

50 mins: HIGHLANDERS 24 BLUES 31

Leni Apisai, Pauliasi Manu, and Patrick Tuipulotu come off the bench for the Blues and Liam Coltman enters the game for the Highlanders.

47 mins: HIGHLANDERS 24 BLUES 31

TRY! Michael Collins makes a stunning break down the left flank for the Blues off the Highlanders attacking box kick and he offloads the ball to Akira Ioane who goes over for his second try of the match. Bryn Gatland makes no mistake with his conversion attempt.

44 mins: HIGHLANDERS 24 BLUES 24

TRY! Take a bow Aaron Smith! Smith milks a penalty from the ref and opts for a quick tap and go from 10m out. Ben Smith comes close to going over the try-line, the Highlanders recycle the ball and Aaron Smith delivers the final pass to Siate Tokolahi who crashes over to score.

Lima Sopoaga lands the conversion and the scores are level 24-24.

40 mins: HIGHLANDERS 17 BLUES 24

And we are back underway! With the Blues opting to kick deep to the Highlanders.

HALFTIME - HIGHLANDERS 17 BLUES 24

An entertaining first half of rugby with both sides willing to throw the ball around and turning down easy points at goal. Bryn Gatland is looking impressive on attack and with ball in hand for the Blues - this game looks like it will go down to the wire... so don't go anywhere.

Rieko Ioane of the Blues runs into contact, during the Super Rugby match between the Highlanders and the Blues, held at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand, on the 8th of April 2017. Credit: Joe Allison / www.Photosport.nz

40 mins: HIGHLANDERS 17 BLUES 24

THREE! The Highlanders are penalised for not releasing the ball in the ruck and Bryn Gatland extends the Blues' lead.

38 mins: HIGHLANDERS 17 BLUES 21

TRY! Akira Ioane catches the Highlanders defence napping and goes himself off the back of an attacking scrum. Aaron Smith is responsible of stopping the big Blues no. 8 and he brushes him aside and crashes over to score and give his side the lead.

Bryn Gatland lands his kick at goal. 

35 mins: HIGHLANDERS 17 BLUES 14

The Blues turn down a shot at goal and kick the ball into touch off a penalty. They have an attacking five metre line-out. Ofa Tu'ungafasi comes oh so close to scoring but the Highlanders hold up the big prop over the try-line.

30 mins: HIGHLANDERS 17 BLUES 14

TRY! A sensational little play from the Highlanders! Aaron Smith passes the ball to Tom Franklin who dummies the ball to Smith who comes around for a wrap but he fires it inside to Rob Thompson who punches onto the ball at high speed. The Highlanders' little pet play catches the Blues off guard and Thompson races away to score his second against the Blues.

Lima Sopoaga is successful with his kick at goal brings up 700 points in Super Rugby.

24 mins: HIGHLANDERS 10 BLUES 14

TRY! The Blues strike back!   Matt Duffie strolls over to score after some great offloading from Sonny Bill Williams and Rieko Ioane down the right edge. Bryn Gatland is on target with his conversion from out wide and the Blues retake the lead 14-10.

23 mins: HIGHLANDERS 10 BLUES 7

Blues' blindside flanker Glenn Preston doesn't look too good and is limping from the field. He has been replaced by Antonio Kiri Kiri.

20 mins: HIGHLANDERS 10 BLUES 7

TRY! The Highlanders gamble pays off. Lima Sopoaga's class gets the Highlanders their first five pointer of the match. He holds the ball at the line and pops a perfect pass for Rob Thompson to score. The Blues get it wrong on defence and it was Ofa Tu'ungafasi that falls off the tackle of Thompson.

Sopoaga slots the conversion with ease and the Landers now lead 10-7. 

17 mins: HIGHLANDERS 3 BLUES 7

The Highlanders turn down a shot at goal after the Blues are penalised. It was an easy three from in front from just over 30+ metres for Lima Sopoaga. The All Blacks first-five kicks the ball into touch and the home side have an attacking line-out from five metres out of the try-line. 

14 mins: HIGHLANDERS 3 BLUES 7

TRY! The Blues are over for the first try of the match. Bryn Gatland goes over showing some great footwork at the line to break the Highlanders' defence and he goes over under the posts. James Parsons was the one that broke the line after running a superb line off his front row partner Alex Hodgman who delivered a perfect pass.

Gatland makes no mistakes with the conversion, the Blues are up 7-3. What a game!

10 mins: HIGHLANDERS 3 BLUES 0

THREE! Lima Sopoaga lands the penalty kick from easy range. The Landers are up 3-0.

9 mins: HIGHLANDERS 0 BLUES 0

Aaron Smith puts up a high a ball which Waisake Naholo regathers, stealing the ball from the grasp of his opposite Rieko Ioane. Looked like the Highlanders could have scored a five pointer if they spread the ball out to the left quicker. The are penalised for an offside play and the Highlanders have a chance to take the lead. 

4 mins: HIGHLANDERS 0 BLUES 0

A back and forth battle as both sides refuse to kick the ball out. But Bryn Gatland takes the initiative for the Blues, he gives his side a breather and heaves a big kick which finds touch at halfway. A frantic start from the Highlanders as they are not afraid to run it from deep inside their own half.

2 mins: HIGHLANDERS 0 BLUES 0

Some big shots from both sides early. Matt Duffie puts on a clever kick and forces Lima Sopoaga to play at it inside his own 22m line and the Blues have an attacking line-out inside the Highlanders' 22m line.  

KICK-OFF!

And we are underway! Lima Sopoaga gets things started for the Highlanders opting to kick deep to the Blues.

PRE-MATCH:

The Blues have had a mixed pre-season losing to the Hurricanes last week 26-14 at Warkworth but took out the Brisbane Global Tens tournament a fortnight ago.

The Auckland Super Rugby franchise hasn't won against a New Zealand side in almost two years. Losing 11 games against New Zealand opposition.

Ben Smith returns for the Highlanders with his side having success in the pre-season thumping the Waratahs 55-29 in Queenstown two weeks ago and also toppled last year's Super Rugby champs the Crusaders 42-26 in Waimumu.

Tana Umaga's loose forwards will be up against a tough Highlanders back row team consisting of All Black flanker Liam Squire, Dillon Hunt and Luke Whitelock.

The match up between Akira Ioane and Whitelock will be an intriguing one, Ioane has a strong running game whereas Luke Whitelock has a high work rate on defence and is strong in set pieces.

The Blues' backline is stacked with star power with SBW and George Moala named in the midfield and All Blacks wingers Rieko Ioane and Matt Duffie named in the starting XV.

The Highlanders also have a solid backline of All Blacks with the likes of Aaron Smith named to start at nine with Lima Sopoaga at first-five and Waisake Naholo on the right wing. 

Bryn Gatland also gets the chance to showoff what he has got in the No.10 jersey, an area of concern for the Blues the last several years. 

TEAMS:

HIGHLANDERS: 1 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 2 Ash Dixon (co-captain), 3 Siate Tokolahi, 4 Jackson Hemopo, 5 Tom Franklin, 6 Liam Squire, 7 Dillon Hunt, 8 Luke Whitelock, 9 Aaron Smith, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 11 Tevita Li, 12 Teihorangi Walden, 13 Rob Thompson, 14 Waisake Naholo, 15 Ben Smith (co-captain).

RESERVES: 16 Liam Coltman, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Tyrell Lomax, 19 Elliot Dixon, 20 Dan Pryor 21 Kayne Hammington, 22 Fletcher Smith, 23 Matt Faddes.

BLUES: 1 Alex Hodgman, 2 James Parsons, 3 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 5 Scott Scrafton, 6 Glenn Preston, 7 Murphy Taramai, 8 Akira Ioane, 9 Augustine Pulu (c), 10 Bryn Gatland, 11 Rieko Ioane, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 13 George Moala, 14 Matt Duffie, 15 Michael Collins.

RESERVES: 16 Leni Apisai, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Michael Tamoaieta, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Antonio Kiri Kiri, 21 Jonathan Ruru, 22 Daniel Kirkpatrick, 23 Melani Nanai. 

9 mins: HIGHLANDERS 0 BLUES 0

10 mins: HIGHLANDERS 3 BLUES 0

17 mins: HIGHLANDERS 3 BLUES 7

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