Blues v Drua takes: Prince Payton's half, Blues loose-forwards stand up

The Blues have extended their unbeaten streak against the Fijian Drua in Super Rugby Pacific, storming home in the second half to secure a bonus-point, 40-15 victory at Eden Park.

With the Joeli Vidiri Memorial trophy on the line, both the Blues and the Fijian Drua were up for the battle in round seven, especially in a first half that was only separated by two points.

Glen Jackson’s side gave away too many penalties though, to a Blues side who needed no invitation to launch rolling mauls towards the Drua line.

Blues hooker Bradley Slater impressed with his core roles, while Carlos Spencer’s son, Payton, had a second half to remember.

Here’s three takeaways from Eden Park.

Tale of two halves for Prince Payton 

It’s only his second career appearance for the Blues, and he will get better over the course of time, but this was a mixed bag from King Carlos’ son.

The 21-year-old went for a little grubber down the left-hand touchline in the 30th minute, when cutting back in and keeping the ball in hand would have been the high-percentage play.

Spencer’s lackadaisical error late in the first half compounded the home side’s issues, where he misjudged and took his eyes off a deep Drua kick.

But in a stark contrast from the first half, Spencer came out of the sheds with renewed confidence, playing his hand in Vai’s try in the 57th minute.

Then, when Beauden Barrett made a break alongside Finlay Christie and Caleb Clarke down the left-hand touchline, it was Spencer in support to slam the ball down close to the posts.

He’s not the first, and won’t be the last player to ever have a mixed performance in his debut season – but his second half, error-free, confident showing was one to build on.

Young Blues loose forwards stand tall

With Blues leader Dalton Papali’i in arguably career best form, and experienced No.8 Hoskins Sotutu out of action against the Drua, it was time for their young loose forwards to stand up.

That they did, with former New Zealand U20 Malachi Wrampling Alec and Canterbury-born Torian Barnes getting through a mountain of work.

Wrampling, who’s been talked about as one of the more promising up-and-comers in the New Zealand loose-forward group, made six tackles and eight carries in the opening 40 minutes.

Many of those carries broke the line, where he was able to get his arms free and offload to a teammate in support. His defensive reads in the Blues’ firing line was superb, and his free-flowing style with ball in hand is a joy to watch.

Etonia Waqa and Elia Canakaivata are both proven internationals, and the two Blues youngsters who lined up against them were far from outplayed.

Wrampling led the Blues in carries after the 80 minutes with nine, while he contributed with 15 tackles. Barnes wasn’t far behind in his shift, making eleven tackles.

Mistakes prove costly

Cotter’s roll the sleeves up game plan that the Blues have played with for the past three years is based off confrontational one-off runners that get over the advantage line.

With the ball in hand, the Drua are electrifying to watch and are near impossible to stop with the attacking flair their players possess, but at Eden Park, they simply couldn’t play for long enough periods without making ill-disciplined decisions.

The Blues’ first try came from a Drua error inside their own half, before Cotter’s side did what they do best close to the line.

Their second, stemmed from a needless escort penalty off kick off, resulting in a Bradley Slater rolling maul try. The second half of the first was tighter, but the same issues came back to haunt them in the second forty minutes, too.

Slater got his second shortly after halftime in a carbon copy of his first, before another error gave Cody Vai his first try of the evening.

A lack of support for Canakaivata at a breakdown meant Blues substitute Che Clark pounced, to set Cotter’s side away on a counter attack. Barrett, Christie, and Spencer did the rest, but it all started with a Drua unforced mistake.

The Drua put themselves in positions to win games of Super Rugby, but sometimes it’s their own doing that proves costly.