Hurricanes vs Blues takes: Canes' pack puffed out, Godfrey NZ's best 10

The Blues earned their first win of the season in Wellington on Saturday night, finding their way past the Hurricanes with a 69th-minute Mark Tele’a try the game-winning moment.

Despite a swathe of possession over the final quarter and a higher chance to score than Ronaldo facing a one-armed goalkeeper on crutches, the Canes couldn’t do it.

The visitors came away with a much-needed win in the capital to kickstart their season while the Canes will rue a lack of execution in the final 10.

Canes couldn’t come up clutch

Enjoying 84 per cent possession over the final 10 minutes, the Hurricanes couldn’t get over the line for the game-stealing try down by four.

Their maul was disarmed by the Blues pack from the five with about five to go, with a second chance coming to the Hurricanes from an offside penalty.

After failing to bully the Blues’ pack over, they tried a straightforward play down the blind side with Du’Plessis Kirifi charging at the Blues’ defence after detaching from the maul. He was turned.

With one last roll of the dice with the clock in the red they went to the maul again from five out, only to be pinged themselves for obstruction.

The Blues were down a forward, with No.8 Hoskins Sotutu in the bin for a high shot and they were still stopped.

The Hurricanes inexperienced pack will have to cop that on the chin when they should really have got the job done.

Harry Godfrey is the best 10 in New Zealand right now

After playing a valuable hand against the Drua scoring the game-winning try, first five Harry Godfrey continued with another solid showing in Wellington, showing why the Hurricanes have invested in his development as a 10.

He outplayed his opposite Plummer, with a strong running game the core of Godfrey’s game. He carried 13 times for 68 metres, third most in the game behind Mark Tele’a and Peter Lakai, and broke open the Blues for a solo try running back up the middle.

He is playing a perfect fiddle for halfback Cam Roigard who often dictates play from the base a lot and likes to go running himself.

With Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett playing fullback, Godfrey is the best 10 in the country right now.

The group is not that experience, with Josh Jacomb at the Chiefs, Taine Robinson at the Highlanders, Taha Kemara at the Crusaders and Plummer at the Blues. After three weeks, Godfrey is leading that pack.

The more Mark Tele’a carries, the better

One of the Blues’ failures to begin the season has been struggling to get the ball wide to their world-class running threats.

All Blacks star Mark Tele’a was the second-most employed ball carrier in Super Rugby Pacific in 2024, averaging 11.3 carries per game. On Saturday, the 28-year-old had a season-high of eight carries, still below his average from a season ago, but considering the Blues as a team had 50 fewer carries than their 2024 season average, their star winger had a higher percentage of their team carries than last season’s average.

With those touches, the winger was able to lead the game in carry metres, running for 82 metres with the ball in hand while beating five defenders.

With his side down one point with 10 minutes remaining, Tele’a received the ball with three Hurricanes defenders ahead of him. He skinned Riley Hohepa effortlessly, outpaced a gassed Peter Umaga-Jensen and went airborne to reach the corner as he collided with Harry Godfrey.

It was a match-winning moment that only a handful of athletes in the game could have pulled off.

Peter Lakai’s ascension continues

Lining up in the respective No. 8 jerseys in this Kiwi derby were two of the most exciting loose forward prospects in the New Zealand game, Hoskins Sotutu and Peter Lakai.

With the Hurricanes offering more attacking play with the ball in hand, it was Lakai who topped the carry count in the game and also was second only to Mark Tele’a in carry metres.

Sotutu, on the other hand, was tasked with more of a defensive workload on the night as his team operated with just 40 per cent possession, and finished with a red card after a high shot on Lakai.

The most h8ed became the least favoured in this round, with the points going to Lakai on the night in the head-to-head No.8 match up.

Rieko Ioane schemed out of existence

You’d love to see the Blues craft a game plan one night where Ioane can explode again with ball-in-hand in a big derby against another NZ team.

One of the fastest players in the country has been reduced to a crash ball support line runner in his new job as a 13. He isn’t getting open field opportunities that often but the Blues don’t seem to care.

He had five carries for eight metres, a low output by Ioane’s standards. For the love of some social media highlights, can we get Ioane the ball in space?