Blues teen shines

MELBOURNE: Teenage centre Rieko Ioane underlined his enormous potential with a hat-trick of tries to fire the Auckland Blues to a 56-18 demolition of the Melbourne Rebels in the Super Rugby season-opener yesterday. The explosive 19-year-old, who made his All Blacks debut on their tour in November, grabbed an intercept try on the stroke of half-time and touched down twice after the break as the Blues racked up a record score in Australia. Pauliasi Manu, Matt Duffie, Augustine Pulu and Melani Nanai also crossed for the visitors in the seven-try rout at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. The Rebels opened the match brightly with a try by captain Nic Stirzaker, but the scrumhalf was ruled out of the match after a headknock shortly after. Flyhalf Jackson Garden-Bachop nosed the Rebels in front for a period with a 22nd minute try at the left corner after flanker Jordy Reid charged down a clearing kick from Ihaia West. Garden-Bachop missed three consecutive kicks off the tee to kill any momentum the Rebels had. – Reuters