Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Blues handed the struggling Highlanders their fifth Super Rugby Pacific defeat in a row with a 32-25 victory in Dunedin.
It was a deserved win for the visitors from Auckland, who outscored their opponents four tries to three and managed to fend off a late Highlanders fightback to secure all the points.
The Highlanders kept themselves in the match until the very end but never managed to get within more than seven points of their opponents.
Beauden Barrett kicked an early penalty to put the Blues in front before Mitch Hunt missed an opportunity to level the scores shortly after.
The Blues’ opening try arrived on 10 minutes after Rieko Ioane won a turnover at the breakdown, and the ball was quickly shifted out wide to Caleb Clarke, who beat both Hunt and Sam Gilbert before scoring under the sticks.
A breakdown infringement from the Blues finally handed the Highlanders their first points midway through the half, although Barrett soon returned the favour to restore his side’s 10-point lead.
After the half-hour mark, Hunt slotted another penalty kick to keep the Highlanders within touching distance, but the Blues would have the final say in the first half with their second try.
Aaron Smith did good work at the scrum to apply pressure on Hoskins Sotutu and make him drop the ball, Blues scrumhalf Sam Nock was able to regather and find Barrett, who produced a silky run to beat two defenders and score.
Barrett missed the conversion as it finished 18-6 to the Blues at half-time.
The Highlanders hit back with their opening try via fullback Sam Gilbert after the second-half whistle sounded, taking a driving maul close to the line.
The ball was spread to the left and then right again, where Gilbert was able to cross over after the Blues ran out of defenders. Hunt missed the conversion to make it a seven-point ball game.
Five minutes later, the Blues responded via a superb solo effort from Sotutu, who must have shrugged off four tackles – including a hand-off on Aaron Smith – before scoring under the posts.
However, the Highlanders hit back within minutes with their second try when Daniel Lienert-Brown collected a smart offload from Hunt, running a clever angle to find the line. Smith had done good work in the build-up to help create the score.
That made it a seven-point game again, but the Blues would deliver a hammer blow with just over 10 minutes to play when Sam Nock sent a flat pass out to Stephen Perofeta, who once again took advantage of some weak Highlanders defence to score under the posts. Perofeta converted his own try to leave the Highlanders with a 14-point mountain to climb.
To the home side’s credit, they would score almost immediately after the restart as Gilbert crossed for his brace following a deadly counter-attack from the kick-off that lasted seven phases.
That once again brought the Highlanders to within seven, setting the stage for a potentially exciting finish, but that would be the game’s last score, despite the home side throwing everything at their opponents in the closing stages, as the Blues hung on for victory.
Highlanders
Tries – Gilbert (2), D. Lienert-Brown
Pen – Hunt (2)
Con – Hunt (2)
Blues
Tries – Clarke, B Barrett, Sotutu, Perofeta
Pen – B. Barrett (2)
Con – B. Barrett, Perofeta (2)
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