Blues deal to Bulls with big second half
WELLINGTON: A second half revival sparked by two Matt Duffie tries gave the Auckland Blues a 38-14 win over the Northern Bulls in a Super Rugby dance of the desperates in Auckland on Saturday.
Both sides needed a confidenceboosting second win for the season and with the scores locked at 7-7 after a messy first half it could have gone either way.
But once Duffie lit up the scoreboard with 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 to two to gain a valuable bonus point as well and captain James Parsons put the improvement down to lessons learned in last week’s 33-24 loss to the Canterbury Crusaders.
“People spoke poorly about our forward pack and we knew what was coming tonight and we stood up,” he said.
“But it’s a stepping stone. Just like last week gave us some confidence this will give us a little bit more.”
The Blues did not help themselves in the first half with a high error rate and blowing two penalty chances.
The first penalty they kicked for the corner to challenge the Bulls at their lineout strongpoint and lost.
The second time they went for the points but Piers Francis missed from close range.
But it was a different look in the second half which started when fullback Michael Collins created the space for Duffie to score his first try by the posts.
Collins was also a central figures in the Blues first try, three minutes into the game, when he handled twice in a passing spree down the left touchline which ended with Augustine Pulu touching down.
The Bulls gained huge amounts of territory for 50 minutes from the pinpoint accuracy of Handre Pollard’s boot.
One 60-metre effort in the first half led to a five-metre lineout which produced their only try to prop Lizo Gqoboko.
But as the Bulls began to tire the spaces opened up for Duffie to add his second try, followed by Ihaia West, Matt Moulds, Melani Nanai, before Rudy Paige scored the Bulls second try on the fulltime.
“In the second half we couldn’t build pressure at all. We just lost the ball after one or two phases,” Bulls captain Adriaan Strauss said.
“Against these guys, they run you all over the park and you can’t hold up that wall for 80 minutes.”
The Bulls next week head to Hamilton to play Waikato Chiefs while the Blues host the Western Force. - AFP