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Blues vs Hurricanes takes: A clear number one, Beauden-ball hurting Blues
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The Cane-train rolled through Eden Park as the centrepiece of round 14 in Super Rugby Pacific, and while there were speed bumps, there was ultimately no stopping the visitors.
It was the familiar Hurricanes experience, with any gap or mistake exploited and plenty of power provided to convert opportunities into points.
The Blues only fired their first shot in the 49th minute through a dominant Malachi Wrampling carry, and by the time they generated their second in the 66th minute, the Hurricanes were already sitting on 40 points. The hosts finished as the better team in the last quarter, scoring what would be a brace of consolation tries before the Hurricanes had the final say.
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In the end, the Blues scored 24 points, and the Hurricanes had 47.
Here are some takeaways from the match.
A clear number one
There’s a race to the top in Super Rugby, and the only reason the Hurricanes haven’t been leading it for the entire season is that they drew the short straw of having a bye in round 1.
While the Brumbies started the season with some impressive wins and enjoyed the top seed for the opening three weeks, the Hurricanes’ delayed start to the season and round 3 loss in Fiji took just a brief moment to be forgotten before the 50-point performances started piling up, and it became apparent their firepower was the best in the competition.
Moving Ruben Love to 10, Jordie Barrett returning, the emergence of Fehi Fineanganofo and Callum Harkin, and the health of various key contributors who were absent much of last season, have all elevated the men from the Kiwi capital to title favourites.
When the Hurricanes met the Blues in round 9, a caveat lingered over their record: they had played just one New Zealand derby against the Hurricanes. A 42-19 win over the Blues laid some doubts to rest. The Chiefs bested them a week later in Super Point, in a game the Canes led until the 72nd minute. There have been nothing but wins since, with the Canes scoring the most points comfortably and conceding the least.
Eden Park saw more of the same, and while they leaked some dots late in the piece, their 40-7 lead after three quarters of action validated their title favourites tag once again.
The new Mr Blue
On a night in which Anton Segner celebrated his 50th game for the Blues and was awarded the Blues’ Fans Player of the Year, he led the game in tackles by a remarkably wide margin.
The German-born flanker has won over the Auckland fanbase with his grit and grind style of play, and the 50 caps he’s now played look likely to be doubled in the years to come as a cult hero.
Meanwhile, the rumour mill is placing the Blues as the leading contenders to sign Ardie Savea for the 2027 season.
The Blues are losing Dalton Papali’i and Hoskins Sotutu, but may not miss them too much with the form of Segner and the rookie duo of Torian Barnes and Malachi Wrampling. The latter was another bright spot for the Blues against the Hurricanes, providing brutality in the collision area to lead his side in carries and metres carried. Barnes’ energy off the bench was again influential and key to inspiring the late surge.
Beauden-ball hurting Blues
Beauden Barrett kicks more than any player in Super Rugby Pacific who isn’t a halfback, and the Blues make do with what possession they are left with.
That’s not how they won the title in 2024, when Barrett was enjoying a sabbatical in Japan with Toyota Verblitz, and the Vern Cotter revolution kept the ball in tight, shrinking the defence before unleashing out wide, religiously.
In that season, the Blues had four players in the top 10 for total carries, including both of their wingers. This year, they have no one in the top 10, with Sam Darry the closest and Caleb Clarke on track to fall 50 short of his 2024 carries tally.
Barrett’s kicking ability is world-class, and he’s clearly been given the order to use it at will. Whether that’s the right call, though, is certainly debatable, with the Blues struggling for possession and territory in their losses this year.
Keeping the ball in hand has long been the preferred method in Super Rugby, and whether this style of Blues attack translates better in the knockout stages will be answered in the coming weeks. If not, former All Blacks and current Hurricanes attack coach Jason Holland will have to decide on how to evolve the game plan when he takes over from Cotter next year.
After the match, Cotter conceded it wasn’t Barrett’s finest performance, but wouldn’t answer whether his form this year had dipped, saying that question needed to be directed at Barrett himself, who is nine days away from his 35th birthday at the time of writing.
The Blues are exactly as good as their 8-5 record states, beating most of the teams below them and none of the teams above them.
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