Blues snap nine-year losing streak in Hamilton with hard-fought win over Chiefs
Any doubts surrounding the Blues’ ability to challenge for the Super Rugby Aotearoa title must surely have been dispelled after the Auckland side snapped a nine-year losing streak in Hamilton to beat the Chiefs 24-12 at FMG Stadium Waikato.
In a match heavily influenced by the slippery conditions forced upon the players by constant drizzle, the Blues backed up their 30-20 defeat of the Hurricanes last week with another impressive performance against Warren Gatland’s men in Hamilton.
Dominating the territory stakes early on, the hosts showed how threatening they can be on attack in the early stages of the contest.
The first glimpse came through young midfielder Quinn Tupaea, who put immense defensive pressure on the Blues deep inside their own half to force a breakdown turnover that went to waste with a misfired Aaron Cruden cross-kick.
Then Sean Wainui blitzed through the Blues’ broken defensive line to illustrate his underrated evasiveness, but it wasn’t until the 12th minute before the home side were rewarded for their efforts through the boot of Damian McKenzie, who rammed home a penalty goal from close range.
The Blues hit back almost straight away, though, after a Lachlan Boshier infringement at the breakdown allowed Beauden Barrett to put the ball into the corner for an attacking 5 metre lineout.
Some good continuity from the Auckland side’s forward pack forced the Chiefs’ defence to crack, with promising No. 8 Hoskins Sotutu crashing in under the posts.
Back-to-back penalties hurt the visitors, however, as the referee’s stringent officiating of the breakdown resulted in Ofa Tu’ungafasi being pinged for an incorrect entry into the ruck, allowing McKenzie to slot his second attempt from about 30 metres out.
A further slew of disciplinary issues continued to put the Blues on the back foot, and the Chiefs looked set to re-claim the lead shortly before the half hour mark with a 5 metre lineout of their own.
Poor execution as the set piece let the hosts down, though, just as it did in their defeat to the Highlanders in Dunedin last week.
An overthrow by hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho gifted the Blues a get-out-of-jail-free card, putting to waste all the pressure they had built in the sequence of play beforehand.
Despite that, McKenzie had the opportunity to push the Chiefs back into the lead with a penalty attempt from just inside his own half after Boshier’s impressive defensive work extended the Blues’ penalty count to five on the trot.
His effort swung away to the left, though, in a miss that was replicated by Otere Black, who shaved the left upright with a 41m penalty kick of his own just moments later.
With the clock ticking towards half-time, the Chiefs took it upon themselves to embark on some adventurous play well inside their own territory, but the conditions didn’t match their ambitious vision, which led to spillage in a pass between McKenzie and Tupaea.
That laid the foundations for the Blues to strike late in the half, and some patient build-up play with ball in hand eventually drew an offside penalty out of the Chiefs.
Black made no mistake with the ensuing penalty attempt, giving the away side a 10-6 lead with little more than two minutes left in the half.
McKenzie closed that gap to one point on the stroke of half-time with a successful attempt from the boot following another breakdown penalty that copped Blues flanker Dalton Papalii a 10-minute stint in the sin bin.
That period of holding a one-man advantage proved fruitless for the Chiefs, though, as the Blues dominated the kicking duel in an uneventful opening 10 minutes to the second half.
Their reward was prolonged possession inside enemy territory, which was capped off by another penalty goal to Black following an incorrect entry to a ruck by Boshier.
McKenzie cancelled that three-pointer out just moments later thanks to Ofa Tu’ungafasi’s inability to roll away from the breakdown through a penalty goal in excess of 40 metres.
The slippery ball made for terse viewing in the second half as neither side could really force the other onto the back foot offensively, but a shift in momentum on the penalty count fell in favour of the Blues as the match wore on.
That put the Aucklanders in good field position as the clock ticked into the final quarter, which Barrett used as an opportunity to launch a drop goal that sailed through the uprights to extend the visitors’ advantage back to four points.
The star fullback doubled his personal tally with a well-taken penalty attempt about five minutes later, leaving the Chiefs in a hole with 10 minutes to play.
That hole resembled something of a deep well by the time Mark Telea slid in for his side’s second try soon afterwards, with the wing capitalising on a powerful break made by his fellow wing Caleb Clarke on the opposite side of the park.
Good distribution of the ball by the Blues’ big men – such as Sotutu, Patrick Tuipulotu and James Parsons – opened the Chiefs up further, and Telea was on hand to apply the finishing touches and put the game beyond doubt.
A late attacking burst by the home side brought some excitement to proceedings thanks to the efforts of Tupaea and Anton Lienert-Brown down the right wing.
A combination of Sotutu’s defensive presence and a breakdown error by replacement loose forward Adam Thomson brought any try-scoring threat to a spluttering halt inside the Blues’ 22.
The result leaves Leon MacDonald’s side at the top of the table following their undefeated start to the domestic league as they prepare to face the Highlanders back in Auckland next week.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Chiefs find themselves wallowing in last place after back-to-back defeats.
It seems there is plenty of work to be done for the Waikato franchise before they travel to Christchurch next week to face off against the all-conquering Crusaders at Orangetheory Stadium.
Blues 24 (Tries to Hoskins Sotutu and Mark Telea; conversion, 2 penalties to Otere Black, penalty and drop goal to Beauden Barrett; yellow card to Dalton Papalii)
Chiefs 12 (4 penalties to Damian McKenzie)
HT: 10-9
Comments on RugbyPass
We had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
60 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
60 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
60 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
60 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
60 Go to comments