Sunday Star-Times

Blues finish on a high as young Chiefs fade

Dead rubber at Eden Park could have been a mismatch but Chiefs dirt trackers had other ideas. Marc Hinton

- Reports.

The Blues finished with a giddy flourish to spare their blushes but the young, second-string Chiefs outfit would still have walked off Eden Park last night with their fair share of satisfacti­on.

In what was essentiall­y a dead rubber Super Rugby Aotearoa regular season finale, with the visiting Chiefs and Crusaders confirmed before the round kicked off to line up in Saturday’s final in Christchur­ch, Leon MacDonald’s home side completed an underwhelm­ing campaign with a flattering close-out performanc­e to dig out a 39-19 victory that was a lot less conclusive than those digits indicate.

With Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan electing to send out a second-string lineup, this could have been a mismatch. That it was far from that said as much about the inadequaci­es of MacDonald’s disappoint­ing Blues side as it did a spirited young outfit from down SH1.

The Chiefs were in it when the scores were locked at 19-19 with 18 minutes to go, before the Blues finished with the proverbial wet sail to notch three scores in the final seven minutes to run away to a flattering six tries to one victory.

The Blues, with their maximum haul, finish the campaign at 4-4 on 20 points – the same final tally as the Chiefs who progressed to the final courtesy of their extra victory.

The young Chiefs, few of whom will feature in Saturday’s final in Christchur­ch, were mostly impressive before they ran out of puff over the final quarter. Up front, loosehead prop Ollie Norris, openside Zane Kapeli and the redoubtabl­e Pita Gus Sowakula, at No 8, led a committed effort splendidly. Bryn Gatland ran the show well and Shaun Stevenson, Bailyn Sullivan and Kaleb Trask ran fast and hard out wide.

The defeat snapped a fivematch win streak for the Chiefs who will regather and retool now for a real shot at the Crusaders in Christchur­ch.

The Blues, who had lost four

of their last five before this, were largely scrappy and stilted before their final-quarter flourish. Hooker Kurt Eklund had another

stormer, to increase his teamleadin­g try tally to four, Tom Robinson provided his usual dash and commitment in the

loose, Hoskins Sotutu finally got his game rolling and Zarn Sullivan came through a positive debut at fullback with flying

colours. Replacemen­t wing AJ Lam bagged a late brace too.

It was mystifying, to say the least, how the Blues actually

managed to take a 14-9 lead into the sheds after the visitors had three pretty decent looks at tries rubbed out in the first 40, two by the eagle eye of the TMO and one by some pretty effective scrambling defence by the home side.

But in the end it was the Blues who crossed for the only two tries of the half, to offset a trio of Gatland penalties for a five-point lead they scarcely deserved based on a pretty unconvinci­ng first spell.

Hooker Eklund crossed for the Blues’ first score, in the 18th minute, when he dashed away on a 20-metre run to the line after receiving a pass at first receiver that might not even have been aimed at him. Eight minutes later flanker Adrian Choat muscled over from a ruck near the line to take the home side out to 14-6.

Otherwise it was mostly the young Chiefs lineup carving the openings in a half where they ran for more metres (229-197), made more clean breaks (3-1) and missed fewer tackles (8 to 14) than their opponents.

They were dreadfully unlucky too, with a big break from Sowakula, with support from Bailyn Sullivan, just being thwarted by some desperate defence in the 11th minute, then the TMO ruling out pretty handy efforts from Sullivan, off a scything break in the 21st minute, and prop Ollie Norris a half-dozen minutes from the break.

Sullivan’s was denied for a borderline second movement on the deck, while Norris’ was rubbed out after the TMO spotted an offside technicali­ty in the leadup.

The Blues made the first move of the second half when Zarn Sullivan went one better than his brother Bailyn to cross for a try on debut nearly a quarter of an hour in. But when Chiefs speedster Stevenson was put over by a nice offload from replacemen­t back Gideon Wrampling 18 minutes from time, the scores were tied at 19-19 to set up the proverbial grandstand finish.

It was all the Blues from there. Sotutu put them eight clear (27-19) with a strong finish from a scrum, then Lam crossed twice out wide as the game flowed his way beautifull­y. Too little, too late, but the Eden Park faithful at least had something to smile about.

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 ?? GETTY ?? Hooker Kurt Eklund, left, and fullback Zarn Sullivan crossed for the Blues but the side still struggled to put away their second-string opponents.
GETTY Hooker Kurt Eklund, left, and fullback Zarn Sullivan crossed for the Blues but the side still struggled to put away their second-string opponents.

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