Duffie strikes to set Blues on 6-try romp
MATT Duffie sparked a second-half revival with two tries to help give the Blues a 38-14 win over the Bulls in Auckland on Saturday.
With both sides looking for a second win for the season, it could have gone either way as the score was level at 7-7 at the break.
But once Duffie picked up his first try five minutes into the second spell, the Blues found a previously unrealised composure to shut the Bulls down.
By the final whistle they had scored six tries as Ihaia West, Matt Moulds and Melani Nanai also crossed to add to Augustine Pulu’s first-half try.
Captain James Parsons said: “People spoke poorly about our forward pack and we knew what was coming tonight and we stood up.
“But it’s a stepping stone. Just like last week gave us some confidence this will give us a little bit more.”
Scott Barrett underlined the versatility that should make All Blacks coach Steve Hansen take notice as he produced a tireless effort at blindside flanker in the Crusaders’ 45-17 win over the Force in Christchurch on Friday.
Barrett, who played four Tests for the All Blacks at lock last year, scored a try and impressed with his work rate on attack and defence in the number No.6 jersey as the Crusaders won their fifth successive game.
Digby Ioane, Matt Todd, Luke Romano, Codie Taylor, David Havili and Ben Funnell also crossed for the home side.
The Highlanders were in desperate search for a win after a tough start to the season against fellow Kiwi opposition which had seen them win only one of their opening four games.
But they returned to Canberra to take on the
Brumbies yesterday and, as in last year’s quarterfinals, they left with the spoils, winning 18-13 this time around.
With the Brumbies attempting to grind out the win, Aki Seiuli charged over from close range to put the Highlanders in front for the first time with seven minutes remaining.
The Stormers narrowly escaped making unwanted history when they stumbled and fumbled their way to victory over the Sunwolves in Singapore on Saturday.
The Japanese franchise, who have never won outside of Japan, led 24-20 at half-time but they came up short losing 44-31.
The Stormers, who were outplayed for large parts of the match at the Singapore National Stadium, scored six tries through Rynhardt Elstadt, EW Viljoen, Wilco Louw, Dewaldt Duvenage, Bongi Mbonambi and Bjorn Basson.
The Sunwolves replied with four tries with impressive centre Derek Carpenter grabbing a brace and wing Shota Emi and lock Liaki Moli dotting down for one each.
David Horowitz scored a try in the final minute to cap a second-half fightback and give the Waratahs a thrilling 32-25 win over the
Rebels in Melbourne on Friday.
The Waratahs trailed 25-6 at half-time but squeezed home on the back of second-half tries from Ned Hanigan, Reece Robinson, Michael Wells and Horwitz to deny the Rebels a prized victory over their betterresourced Australian rivals. The Lions thumped the
Kings 42-19 while two tries from Jacobus van Wyk as well as 18 points from the boot of rising star Curwin Bosch led the Sharks to beat the Cheetahs 38-30.