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Rieko Ioane bags four tries as Blues notch first win of the season against Sunwolves

March 9, 2019

Relive 1 NEWS NOW's live coverage of tonight's Super Rugby match between the Blues and the Sunwolves at QBE Stadium in Albany.

FULLTIME - BLUES 28 SUNWOLVES 20

Discipline let the Sunwolves down as two players were sent to the bin for professional fouls. Rieko Ioane was instrumental for the home team bagging four tries in his side's first win of the season.

74 mins: BLUES 28 SUNWOLVES 20

THREE! Otere Black steps up and nails his penalty kick from easy range and the Blues are now eight-points ahead of the visitors.

Blues captain Sonny Bill Williams.
Blues v Sunwolves, Super 15 Rugby, QBE Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand. 9 March 2019. © Copyright Image: Marc Shannon / www.photosport.nz.

74 mins: BLUES 25 SUNWOLVES 20

YELLOW CARD! The Sunwolves' reserve hooker Nathan Vella has been sent to the bin for a professional. Intentionally knocking the ball down as the Blues were in prime scoring position on attack.

68 mins: BLUES 25 SUNWOLVES 20

MISS! The Sunwolves have been penalised for an infringement at scrum time. Blues reserve first-five Otere Black steps up and his penalty kick at goal from about 41m out on the angle is just short of the goal posts.

62 mins: BLUES 25 SUNWOLVES 20

TRY! The Sunwolves grind their way up field, happy to pick and go through their forwards. And it is reserve forward Uew Helu who crashes over and grounds the ball on the try-line.

Riyika Matsuda is on target with his kick at goal.

58 mins: BLUES 25 SUNWOLVES 13

TRY! Rieko Ioane is in for his fourth try of the game. After numerous attacks at the Sunwolves' goal-line, the Blues decide to go wide down the left flank. Melani Nanai showed great hands to get rid of the ball and give it to Ioane, who has no one in front of him.

Harry Plummer's kick from the sideline is no good as it drifts right of the goal posts.

56 mins: BLUES 20 SUNWOLVES 13

YELLOW CARD! The Sunwolves' fullback Semisi Masirewa is sent to the bin for a professional foul. He was in an offside position and knocked the ball down just as it looked the Blues were about to score. The Blues have an attacking 5m scrum from the Sunwolves' goal line down the right edge.

48 mins: BLUES 20 SUNWOLVES 13

HAT-TRICK! Rieko Ioane goes in for his third try of the match. A great set piece play by the Blues at scrum time. The backs go with two back door passes, a double second man play and the Ioane strolls in to score down the left edge.

Harry Plummer misses his conversion attempt from out wide.

46 mins: BLUES 15 SUNWOLVES 13

NO TRY! The Blues rumble forward after a well contructed lineout drive. They recycle the ball and get the ball to Harry Plummer, he throws a long skip out pass to right winger Tanielu Tele'a. Tele'a looks to be over to score but the touch judge rules he had his foot on the sideline. Replays shows that the official made the right call.

40 mins: BLUES 15 SUNWOLVES 13

And we are back underway as Blues first-five Harry Plummer kicks off short towards the Sunwolves.

HALFTIME - BLUES 15 SUNWOLVES 13

The Blues have shown glimpses of brilliance, but just haven't been patient enough with the ball. Forcing the pass way to often and spilling the ball too much inside the Sunwolves own half. The Sunwolves have been good on attack scoring a try late in the 29th minute through their first-five Riyika Matsuda. The Blues have been dominant at scrum time and are clearly have the strong forward pack.

40 mins: BLUES 15 SUNWOLVES 13

The Blues monster the Sunwolves in the scrum just before the break. They have a chance to counter attack around halfway, Augustine Pule passes the ball to TJ Faiane and he puts the ball onto the foot. He and Melani Nanai give chase but Sunwolves winger Jamie Henry gets to the ball first and kicks it into touch.

34 mins: BLUES 15 SUNWOLVES 13

TRY! Rieko Ioane scores his second try of the match down the left edge. The Blues have a 5m scrum and it goes down with the ref put his arm up for a penalty advantage. Akira Ioane sees acres of space down the left hand channel and throws a long ball to his brother. Rieko has too much speed and is in for the Blues' second try.

Harry Plummer nails his conversion attempt from out wide.

29 mins: BLUES 8 SUNWOLVES 13

TRY! Michael Little throws a behind the back pass to Rahboni Warren Vosayaco who regathers the ball on the Blues 40m line after it hit the deck. He runs 10m before offloading the ball to his first-five Riyika Matsuda who goes in to score his side's first try of the match.

Matsuda is online with his conversion attempt.

20 mins: BLUES 8 SUNWOLVES 6

TRY! Rieko Ioane goes into score for the Blues after a set piece play from the line-out. Harry Plummer throws a smart inside ball to James Parsons who gets over the advantage line. He offloads the ball to right winger Tanielu Tele'a who makes huge ground, Tele'a is tackled centimetres short of the try-line. Augustine Pulu throws the ball wide and Blues winger Ioane is in for the first try of the match.

Matt Manukia breaks down the Blues' squad for next season.

The conversion attempt from out wide is offline by Harry Plummer.

14 mins: BLUES 3 SUNWOLVES 6

THREE! Harry Plummer steps up and fires his penalty kick at goal through the uprights and Blues are on the score-board. The Sunwolves were penalised for an offside play just as the home team were building some good go forward play on attack.

10 mins: BLUES 0 SUNWOLVES 6

THREE! Blues prop Sione Mafileo is penalised for being offside and Sunwolves first-five Riyika Matsuda extends his side's lead with another successful penalty shot at goal. 

3 mins: BLUES 0 SUNWOLVES 3

THREE! Blues centre TJ Faiane is penalised for being offside and Rikiya Matsuda converts his penalty kick from in front of the goals posts from 20m+ out. 

BLUES 0 SUNWOLVES 0

KICK-OFF! The Sunwloves kick off deep towards the Blues with Augustine Pulu regathering the ball inside his own 22.

PRE-MATCH:

The Sunwolves will be looking to continue their winning momentum after upseting the Chiefs last weekend in Hamilton 30-15.

The Blues on the other hand have lost three from three matches so far this season.

Harry Plummer has been given the nod to start at first-five for the Blues with Sonny Bill Williams named to skipper the Auckland Super Rugby franchise.

Loose forward Blake Gibson returns for the Blues after an ankle injury, hepartners up with Tom Robinson and Akira Ioane in the back row department.

Last time the two teams met the Blues defeated the Sunwolves 24-10 in Tokyo in round nine in April last year.

TEAMS:

Blues:  1 Karl Tu'inukuafe, 2 James Parsons, 3 Sione Mafileo, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 5 Josh Goodhue, 6 Tom Robinson, 7 Blake Gibson, 8 Akira Ioane, 9 Augustine Pulu, 10 Harry Plummer, 11 Rieko Ioane, 12 Sonny Bill Williams (c), 13 TJ Faiane, 14 Tanielu Tele'a, 15 Melani Nanai.

Reserves: 16 Matt Moulds, 17 Marcel Renata, 18 Lua Li, 19 Scott Scrafton, 20 Dalton Papalii, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Otere Black, 23 Levi Aumua.

Sunwolves:  1 Pauliasi Manu, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 4 Tom Rowe, 5 James Moore, 6 Hendrik Tui, 7 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 8 Rahboni Warren Vosayaco, 9 Jamie Booth, 10 Rikiya Matsuda, 11 Jamie Henry, 12 Michael Little (c), 13 Jason Emery, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 15 Semisi Masirewa.

Reserves: 16 Nathan Vella, 17 Alex Woonton, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Uew Helu, 20 Dan Pryor, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Hayden Parker, 23 Phil
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