Sacre Bleu! Blues fold after leading Chiefs

The Chiefs overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to down the Blues 34-29 in Auckland to begin the Super Rugby season last night.

A match where front-rowers scored more tries than the backs and former All Black Aaron Cruden showed touches of his old brilliance, featured plenty of ebb and flow.

At first, the Blues were all over the Warren Gatland-coached Chiefs to lead 19-5 at halftime.

Loose forward Tony Lamborn finished a sweeping move in the 17th minute, with All Blacks wing Rieko Ioane nailing a Blues brace before the break.

Had Stephen Perofeta had his kicking radar on, the Blues would have been further clear.

It took the Chiefs 36 minutes to open their account for the season, with in-form hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho fighting his way over.

Gatland unleashed first-five Aaron Cruden and Anton LienertBrown at halftime and within 11 minutes the Chiefs had roared back to level the scores at 19-19, with Taukei’aho notching the first try, and prop Pita-Gus Sowakula the next.

Just as it seemed the Chiefs tight forwards were going to bulldoze the Blues into defeat, former Chiefs prop Karl Tuinukuafe rumbled across to restore a five-point lead with 23 minutes left.

Again the seesaw came into play, with the Chiefs nailing tries in the 65th and 69th minutes to go 31-26 up – the second after a piece of Cruden brilliance, which was as if he had never been away.

Chiefs loose forward Lachlan Boshier was a thorn in the side of the Blues, turning over the ball several times.