Beauden gets a dig from his old mate Coles

NEW Zealand playmaker Beauden Barrett enjoyed victory over former side the Hurricanes on his Blues debut in front of a capacity 43,000 crowd in Auckland.

The 29-year-old, who spent nine years at the Wellington-based Hurricanes, received some cheeky digs from his old team-mates despite the 30-20 scoreline.

After Dane Coles barrelled through his tackle to score, Barrett was briefly surrounded by celebrating Hurricanes.

Barrett said Coles caught him with a shoulder barge late in the game. “My back felt his shoulder somewhere towards the end of the game,” a grinning Barrett said.

Blues fly-half Otere Black outshone Barrett, who had to settle for the full-back slot. Black landed all six of his kicks and pulled the strings in the second half to punish the Hurricanes' fraying discipline.

Caleb Clarke, TJ Faiane and Dalton Papali'i all scored tries for the Blues, who had won five of their seven games before Super Rugby was put on hold.

On Saturday, a late drop goal from Bryn Gatland snatched victory from a

Chiefs side coached by his father Warren.

About 20,000 supporters watched on in the Forsyth Barr Stadium as the Highlanders beat the Chiefs 28-27 in a thrilling opener to tournament.

Gatland Jr, only called up to the bench as a late replacement for Josh Ioane, landed a last-gasp drop-goal to snatch victory, a minute after Damian McKenzie thought his own drop-kick had won the match for the Chiefs.

Ash Dixon and Sio Tomkinson tries had given the Highlanders a 15-6 lead before a converted Sean Wainui try and McKenzie penalty put the Chiefs ahead.

Highlanders’ Marino Mikaele-Tu’u and Chiefs’ Anton Lienert-Brown then crossed before the late dropkick drama.

World Rugby have announced law changes but Super Rugby Aotearoa’s changes have been for entertainment rather than health with a stricter implementation of the breakdown laws contributing to a total of 30 penalties awarded in the match.