Highlanders held nerve in a thrilling 12-16 victory over Blues

Blues 12-16 Highlanders, Eden Park
Scorecard

Malakai Fekitoa scored a solitary try in the game as Highlanders completed a thrilling 12-16 win over Blues in their Super Rugby encounter at Eden Park on Saturday.

The first half saw Fekitoa crossing over in 15 minutes sandwiched between a penalty and a conversion from semi-final to take Blues to an early 10 point lead. Blues bounced back with two penalties from fly-half Ihaia West as they trailed by four points heading into half time.

The first 10 minutes of second half saw both fly halves exchanging penalties and the scoreline remained intact until the 67th minute when replacement Piers Francis scored a three-pointer to reduce the gap to one point between the two teams.

However, Highlanders replacement fly half Marty Banks responded back with a penalty of his own in the 73rd minute to restore the four point lead.

Highlanders flanker Gareth Evans was sin-binned in the added minutes but it did not harm the visitors as they completed a four point victory. This was also their first win of the season and continue to languish at the bottom of the table in New Zealand conference behind Blues.