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At Eden Park, Auckland: Blues 36 (Mark Telea 4 tries 11min, 28min, 64min, 79min, Hoskins Sotutu try 20min, Rieko Ioane try 74min; Harry Plummer 2 con, Stephen Perofeta con) Hurricanes 25 (Cam Roigard try 32min, Billy Proctor try 50min, Kini Naholo 2 tries 71min, 77min; Jordie Barrett con, pen). HT: 19-10
A dazzling four-try display from Mark Telea has guided the Blues to a frantic 36-25 win over the Hurricanes at a rain-soaked Eden Park on Saturday night, and all but locked them in a home Super Rugby Pacific quarterfinal.
In an error-riddled affair after the heavens opened on kickoff, the home side raced to a 19-3 lead after half an hour, but then fell away for some time as the visitors, despite numerous times shooting themselves in the foot, stayed in the fight.
With a woefully-bad lineout for a second successive week (5/10 in the first half and 9/14 overall), and Jordie Barrett misfiring a couple of very gettable penalty shots, the Hurricanes somehow held firm at 19-15 into the final quarter.
And what a final period that proved to be. No fewer than five tries, in fact, to give the 21,000 in attendance their money’s worth in the wet.
Telea joined Joeli Vidiri, Doug Howlett, Mils Muliaina and Rieko Ioane as Blues to notch a four tries in one game, and he struck a big blow with quarter of an hour left, ducking and diving his way over out on the right wing to break his side’s long scoring drought and notch his hat-trick.
Phil Walter/Getty Images
Mark Telea scored four tries in the Blues’ important win over the Hurricanes at Eden Park.
It continued a fantastic night for the incumbent All Blacks No 14, who had opened the night’s tryscoring on a bulldozing charge through a trio of gold jerseys, before grabbing a second out of nothing by skipping 45 metres straight up the middle.
Captain courageous Ardie Savea was the catalyst for keeping the Canes in touching distance, more than once coming up trumps with a big turnover on his own line, but not even a late Kini Naholo double could get the visitors out of jail.
Bryce Heem went from hero to zero to hero again as it rained three five-pointers in the final half-dozen minutes.
He charged through Cam Roigard and popped a pass for Rieko Ioane to seemingly seal the deal, but then the Blues second-five dropped a ball and Billy Proctor pounced and back-flicked for Naholo to hit back, before Heem sent a perfect grubber through and had Telea collect to eventually have the final say.
Early on, the Hurricanes were dealt an early blow when Julian Savea was forced off after just four minutes, clutching his chest. And things quickly got worse for the visitors, with Hoskins Sotutu also prominent in the early stages and powering his way over.
The Canes went to the sheds down 19-10, having had just 34% possession, 43% territory, and having been forced into more than three times the amount of tackles as the Blues, and in the end, their 29% goal kicking percentage also made for ugly reading.
The big moment
It could only be Telea’s 79th minute killer blow that finally, finally killed off the contest. With Heem beautifully grubbering through, the Blues No 14 seared through and after Jamie Booth and co slid past the ball, the man of the moment did well to skilfully scoop up and dive over for his fourth try.
Match rating
8/10: The rain made for some tricky handling, but both sides were certainly still happy to give the ball some air. There were 10 tries in all, several eye-catching at that, and it was back and forth all over the place in the crazy late stages.
MVP
Who else but four-try hero Telea? He finished with 52 metres on nine carries, and along with leading the clean break count (three), he easily topped the defenders beaten count as well, his 10 being six clear of the rest. He showed his full array of skills in a reminder he is still right in the All Blacks mix.
The big picture
The Blues’ win takes them to 42 competition points, and into third spot, at least temporarily, one point ahead of the Brumbies, who host the Chiefs later on Saturday night. The Blues host the Highlanders next Friday and the only way they could miss out on a home quarterfinal is if the Canes – who can finish no lower than fifth – score a bonus-point win over the Crusaders in Christchurch next Saturday.
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