Table-topping Blues to host Landers in final
It’s a party at Eden Park next Saturday as the Auks charge into the TransTasman competition’s deciding game. reports.
DO not adjust your sets. You have not entered a parallel dimension. The Blues are through to their first Super Rugby final in 18 years. What’s more, it’s a party at their house.
Leon MacDonald’s men, with their rather hard-fought 31-21, four tries to three, victory over the Western Force at Eden Park last night, have finished top of the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman standings. They will host next Saturday’s final against the Highlanders, who sneaked into second spot after the Crusaders, for once, failed to nail the result they needed in the final round of qualifying play.
The Blues, Highlanders and Crusaders all finished 5-0, and on 23 points, with a clean sweep of the five Australian teams. But it was the Auks who topped the table courtesy of their plus-119 points differential, and the southerners who joined them on the strength of their meritorious 33-12 Friday night victory over the Brumbies in Canberra.
The Blues were outstanding in the first half last night (leading 28-0 at the break), and rather less so in the second when they were, er, forced to dig deeper than anyone expected with a bad case of the lineout shakes and some less than precision play over the run home.
The Force were gallant, too, in defeat, their never-say-die attitude to the fore as they won the second spell 21-3 to give their hosts plenty to think about heading into the final. The visitors were splendidly led by their Kiwi veterans Richard Kahui and Jeremy Thrush and rattled the Auks over the second 40.
The home forwards were led by a strong display from hooker Kurt Eklund and a statement performance from No 8 Hoskins
Sotutu who finished with two tries and 67 metres on the carry to mark a fine night’s work.
The prop rotation did their job splendidly at the scrum, locks Gerard Coley-Tuioti and Patrick Tuipulotu provided the physicality and Dalton Papalii continued his showcase season before departing in the final quarter.
The Blues did lose workhorse No 6 Tom Robinson to a head knock a half-hour in that is likely to put him into the doubtful category for the final.
Halfback Fin Christie and wing Mark Telea were the best of the home backs. Christie simply continued on the jinking, playmaking form he’s built through this competition, and Telea enjoyed possibly his best display of the year to stamp his
AT A GLANCE
Blues 31 (Hoskins Sotutu 2, Mark Telea, Dalton Papalii tries; Otere Black pen, 4 cons), Western Force 21 (Feleti Kaitu’u, Tevita Kuridrani, Rob Kearney tries; Iain Prior 2 cons, Domingo Miotti con). Ht: 28-0. mark on proceedings.
The equation for the Blues heading in had been a simple one: Win and they would host next Saturday’s final against the Highlanders at Eden Park; lose and . . . well, the outcome was unimaginable.
It was never really in doubt. The Blues thrust out to 7-0 just inside the 10-minute mark with a well-executed try that started with TJ Faiane’s pinpoint crosskick to Telea and was finished when Sotutu steamed on to Rieko Ioane’s inside ball to charge 30-odd metres to the line.
There was more than a hint of precision about this move that had its origins on the training ground on Thursday, and so it continued throughout a clinical opening 40 from the Blues as they ran in four tries to power to a 28-0 halftime lead.
Telea had the second, just shy of the half-hour mark, when the home side worked nine phases off a scum, and a wide pass from Zarn Sullivan found his wing on the bounce with all the room he required.
Flanker Papalii notched the third, six minutes from the break, on the back of a brilliant lineout steal from Akira Ioane and a strong carry from Gerard Cowley-Tuoti; and Sotutu had his brace just before the changearound courtesy of a sizzling Christie break and a strong carry from Alex Hodgman near the line.
The visitors were forced to attempt nearly three times as many tackles as their hosts, and dropped off a fair few.
The West Australians, though, are made of stern stuff. And they came out after the break to play their way back into the match with a surging third quarter that saw them put hooker Feleti Kaitu’u and centre Tevita Kuridrani in for tries, to halve the deficit to 28-14.
The Force managed a third try to Rob Kearney to get within 10 points late. Otere Black’s penalty was the home side’s only score of the second spell.
The Blues had some real wobbles at lineout time after the break, and will need to address that before the final. But they are there, and after an 18-year wait that really is the main thing.