Hurricanes maintain winning streak after defeating Blues 15-36

Blues 15-36 Hurricanes, Eden Park
Scorecard

Hurricanes registered their ninth win from 10 games as they trounced Auckland Blues 15-36 in their Super Rugby encounter at Eden Park on Friday.

The win has taken Hurricanes to the top of the New Zealand Conference while Blues languish at the bottom of the group with three wins from 11 games.

Hurricanes had a promising start to the game when they kicked for touch after they were awarded a penalty and from the resulting line-out, Ricky Riccitelli touched down to get them off the mark with Beauden Barrett improving it.

An infringement from Brad Shields, saw Blues open their account with a 15th-minute penalty goal. Sonny Bill Williams played a pivotal role in helping the home side claim the lead as the All Black ran into an inside pass from Perofeta to set up Orbyn Leger for their opening try in the 26th minute.

Perofeta missed out on the conversion but Hurricanes reclaimed the lead heading into the break with Gareth Evans dotting down in the 32nd minute and Barrett once again kicked the extras.

Unwilling to relent, the Blues once again took lead when Ofa Tuungafasi crashed from close range and Perofeta kicked the conversion to make it 15-14. However, they were unable to make an impact in the final 30 minutes but Nehe Milner-Skudder (53'), Sam Losi (61') and Matt Proctor (79') scored tries to complete a 15-36 victory for Hurricanes.

HIGHLIGHTS: 2018 Super Rugby Week 13: Blues v Hurricanes
Sonny Bill Williams made an impact on his return to action for @BluesRugbyTeam, but a strong second-half effort saw @Hurricanesrugby extend Super Rugby’s best winning streak to nine. https://t.co/DDujVuzD01

— Super Rugby (@SuperRugby) May 11, 2018