A dominant display by the Blues against the Highlanders this afternoon has seen the Auckland franchise remain unbeaten in this year's Super Rugby Aotearoa.
By Sean Nugent
The Blues, led by the performances of Akira and Reiko Ioane, took the game by the scruff of the neck in the opening minutes and never let go, eventually running out 39-17 winners.
It was a promising performance from the Ioane brothers, the two All Blacks consistently making their presence known on both offence and defence, even combining for a brilliant try that was controversially ruled out.
For the Highlanders, a lot to think about as they struggled to find their feet throughout the game, the Dunedin side thoroughly outplayed from start to finish.
The Blues had kicked off in front of a strong crowd at Eden Park, as they looked to continue their winning streak at the start of this Super Rugby Aotearoa season.
The Highlanders won an early penalty and Josh Ioane made no mistake from out in front to give the visitors the lead in the fourth minute.
But they themselves were penalised less than a minute later for not releasing, and the Blues decided to test the Highlanders forwards by kicking for touch rather than the posts.
Sustained pressure could not produce any points for the Blues but there were promising signs for what was to come.
Perofeta broke the line and offloaded beautifully to Reiko Ioane, who charged deep into the 22 before finding Black on his right to dive over in his 50th Super Rugby game. The flyhalf converted his own try to give the home side an early advantage.
The Blues sustained pressure and a lovely cut-out pass by Black found Ioane in space again, the centre drawing the last man before playing a simple ball to Clarke to score his first try of the afternoon.
Black converted again to give the Blues a double-digit lead.
The Highlanders were struggling to contain the Blues, and it was Sotutu who next burst through the line on the right wing, finding Papalii on his outside, who was tackled into touch just metres from the tryline.
The Blues were creating quick ball and the Highlanders were soon caught offside, Black knocking the resulting penalty over the posts.
The visitors were having a tough time, and it did not get any better when a Josh Ioane clearance kick found touch on the full, giving the Blues another crack to extend their advantage.
While the southern Ioane was struggling, the two in blue were not, the brothers combining for what seemed like a magical try they likely dreamt of growing up in the backyard, only for the TMO to make a dubious call, ruling Akira’s pass forward.
Things went from bad to worse for the Highlanders as Nareki went off injured, and Josh Dickson receiving a yellow card on the stroke of halftime for taking Clarke out in the air.
The Blues led 17-3 at the half and looked well on top, the visiting South Island side having it all to do in the second half if they were going to walk away with a win after 80 minutes.
The home side continued their dominance at the second half, taking advantage of the extra man, an unmarked Narawa scoring in the right corner with his first touch of the ball after replacing Telea.
The Highlanders just needed to retain possession but they were just unable to do so, Ruru snatching the ball from the ruck and booting it down to the opposite end of the field.
The return of Dickson was not enough for the Highlanders to stop another Blues try, Eklund rumbling over off the back of a maul.
Black converted to take the lead to 29-3.
The Highlanders finally found some rhythm not long after, driving a strong maul towards the line, allowing Ash Dixon to score.
Ioane converted to give the Southerners a sniff with still well over half an hour to play.
But Black scored a penalty soon after to take the lead back over 20 points, and the home side continued to dominate possession as they looked to put the game away.
The Highlanders caught a break after a TMO decision ruled obstruction at the beginning of a Blues move, bringing play back around 70 metres and the visitors a chance to cut into the deficit.
But it was to no avail, Akira Ioane winning a penalty in the ruck to allow the Blues to get out of trouble.
It was the elder of the Ioane brothers who touched down not long after, Narawa winning a high ball to break away down the right wing, finding Nock on his inside who dished it to Plummer, the inside back brought down inches from the line.
A simple offload to Ioane sealed the Blues’ sixth try of the evening, and a simple conversion for Black looked to have sealed a comfortable victory for the home side.
The Highlanders received a reprieve in the final ten minutes, as Nock was sent to the bin for not supporting his own body weight.
It did not take long for his opposite number Fakatava to capitalise, touching down off the back of a maul.
Ioane converted but there was still a massive gap between the two sides on the scoreboard, and that was the way it remained, the Blues running out comfortable 39-17 winners.
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