The Blues claimed their first win of the Super Rugby Pacific season with a commanding second-half display, outscoring the Western Force 28–15 after the break to run out 42–32 victors in the first Super Rugby match played at Joondalup’s HIF Health Insurance Oval.
Key moments
6 mins – TRY BLUES: Joshua Fusitu’a opens the scoring. The Blues forwards batter the Force line through wave after wave of close-range carries, with Bradley Slater and Anton Segner going close before Fusitu’a picks and drives over beside the posts. Stephen Perofeta converts. (Force 0–7 Blues)
12 mins – TRY FORCE: Harry Johnson-Holmes levels the scores with a sharp response. Ben Donaldson finds touch in the left corner, and after messy lineout ball, Brandon Paenga-Amosa taps a free kick quickly and storms towards the line. Johnson-Holmes catches the Blues defence napping, burrowing low to crash over to the left of the sticks. Donaldson converts. (Force 7–7 Blues)
20 mins – YELLOW CARD FORCE: Brandon Paenga-Amosa is sent to the sin bin for repeated offside infringements. The Blues had been camped on the Force line, with Hoskins Sotutu, Slater, Caleb Clarke and Fusitu’a all going close. Three penalties in quick succession around the tryline leave referee Damon Murphy no option. (Force 7–7 Blues)
21 mins – TRY BLUES: Stephen Perofeta capitalises immediately. With the man advantage, the Blues set a scrum five metres out and work patiently through the phases. Finlay Christie swings the ball to the left and Perofeta strolls through a gaping hole to dot down. Perofeta converts his own try. (Force 7–14 Blues)
29 mins – PENALTY FORCE: Ben Donaldson slots a penalty from right in front after Fusitu’a is caught not rolling at the breakdown. The Force steady under pressure during Paenga-Amosa’s absence. (Force 10–14 Blues)
40+2 mins – TRY FORCE: Carlo Tizzano gives the Force the lead right on half-time. Divad Palu produces a brilliant 50/22 to flip the field after Sotutu’s surging run is turned over, and the Force set up camp inside the Blues’ 22. Hamish Stewart goes close before Tizzano charges onto the ball at pace and muscles through two defenders to crash over on the right. Donaldson converts. (Force 17–14 Blues)
Half-time: Force 17–14 Blues. The hosts have edged in front after a frenetic opening 40 minutes played at a ferocious tempo. Both sides have been committed to short carries and brutal collisions, but the Force’s set-piece pressure and Tizzano’s trademark physicality have given them the edge heading into the sheds.
42 mins – TRY BLUES: Zarn Sullivan restores the Blues’ lead with the first play of the second half. The Blues win a lineout 35 metres out, and Marcel Renata and Slater make hard yards before Dalton Papali’i produces an excellent run down the left, drawing two defenders and popping a miracle offload out the back door. Sullivan is into an acre of space and strolls over near the posts. Perofeta converts. (Force 17–21 Blues)
47 mins – PENALTY FORCE: Ben Donaldson trims the margin to a single point from right in front after Mason Tupaea is penalised for collapsing the scrum. The Force sense an opportunity. (Force 20–21 Blues)
53 mins – TRY BLUES: Torian Barnes punches through for the Blues’ fourth. Sullivan drops a grubber in behind that AJ Lam reaches first, and the Blues set up camp inside the Force 22. Laghlan McWhannell goes close with a pick and go before Barnes storms onto a short ball and punches through a hole to plant the ball down. Perofeta converts. (Force 20–28 Blues)
60 mins – TRY BLUES: Cole Forbes scores untouched in the corner. Barnes wins the lineout and the Blues set the drive before releasing for Clarke, who busts through midfield. Christie recycles quickly and spreads the ball wide right, with Sullivan drawing the last defender and shifting it to Forbes, who strolls over unopposed. Perofeta converts from wide on the right. (Force 20–35 Blues)
67 mins – TRY FORCE: Bayley Kuenzle keeps the Force in the fight. Henry Robertson injects pace from the base with a dangerous burst that creates the space, and the ball is worked wide left where Kuenzle finds himself in room to stroll over. Donaldson converts. (Force 27–35 Blues)
70 mins – TRY BLUES: Josh Beehre responds immediately. The Force mistime the restart and then throw a lineout not straight, presenting the Blues with a free kick in attacking position. Kurt Eklund taps and finds Papali’i to carry, and from quick ruck ball, Beehre spots space down the right flank, shrugs out of one tackle and barges over. Perofeta converts. (Force 27–42 Blues)
79 mins – TRY FORCE: Ben Donaldson races away for a late consolation. George Bridge slips past one defender before being dragged down 15 metres out. After Vaiolini Ekuasi burrows low, the ball spills out the side of the ruck and Donaldson scoops it up, streaking away to score under the posts. The TMO confirms the flyhalf was not offside. Donaldson hits the left upright with the conversion from right in front to sum up his mixed evening off the tee. (Force 32–42 Blues)
Full-time: Force 32–42 Blues
In sweltering conditions at Joondalup’s compact suburban oval, the Blues delivered the response Vern Cotter demanded after their controversial opening-round defeat to the Chiefs, overturning a three-point half-time deficit with a blistering 21–3 burst in the third quarter that put the Force to the sword.
The Force, playing their first Super Rugby match at the venue in Perth’s northern suburbs, were far from disgraced. A vocal crowd gathered on the traditional grass bank and saw their side match the Blues blow for blow in a first half defined by brutal short carries, ferocious defensive collisions, and a swirling breeze that turned high kicks into a lottery.
The Blues struck first when Fusitu’a crashed over from close range after sustained forward pressure in the sixth minute, but the Force hit back sharply through Johnson-Holmes, who burrowed over after Paenga-Amosa’s instinctive quick tap caught the visitors napping at the lineout.
The contest intensified around the 20-minute mark. The Blues laid siege to the Force line, sending wave after wave of carriers at the whitewash, but repeated infringements from the hosts proved costly. When Paenga-Amosa was pinged for his third offside in four minutes, Murphy had little choice but to reach for the yellow card. Perofeta capitalised within 60 seconds, strolling through a two-man overlap after patient phase play.
Rather than crumble during the sin-bin period, the Force steadied. Donaldson’s penalty kept the scoreboard ticking, and the home side’s scrummaging—an area where they dominated throughout—continued to give them a foothold. Jeremy Williams and Tizzano were tireless in the carry, and when Palu produced a superb 50/22 after turning over Sotutu’s surge deep in the Force half, the hosts smelled blood.
Tizzano’s try on the stroke of half-time was vintage: the Wallabies flanker charging onto the ball at pace and powering through two would-be tacklers to crash over on the right. Donaldson’s conversion sent the Force into the sheds with a 17–14 lead, and the locals dared to believe the long wait for a win over the Blues—stretching back to 2008—might finally end.
Whatever Cotter said in the sheds got through. Sullivan’s try with the first meaningful passage of the second half was a statement of intent, finished off by Papali’i’s remarkable offload out the back door under heavy contact. The Blues captain, playing his final season before departing for France, was everywhere—carrying hard, turning the ball over, and leading from the front in a performance that underlined what the franchise will lose at season’s end.
Donaldson’s penalty from in front briefly trimmed the gap to a single point at 20–21, and for a spell it felt as though either side could pull clear. But the Blues’ bench impact, combined with Perofeta’s growing command of the conditions with the wind at his back, proved decisive.
Barnes’ try in the 53rd minute, finished after Lam won a foot race to Sullivan’s grubber kick, opened the floodgates. Seven minutes later, Forbes was strolling over untouched in the corner after a slick sequence that began with Clarke’s powerful midfield bust and Christie’s rapid recycle. At 35–20, the Blues had scored three tries in 18 minutes and the Force were reeling.
Kuenzle’s try in the 67th minute, set up by Robertson’s sharp burst off the bench, briefly revived the home crowd, but the Force’s inability to execute at the restart handed the Blues an immediate opportunity. Beehre needed no second invitation, barging over on the right to reassert control.
“It’s important. We had a tough one in round one,” Sullivan told Stan Sport afterwards. “So to come over here to tick off the first one, and then go down to Canberra next week and hopefully get another one. It’s not easy to come over to Perth, so it’s that mentality of being here for a job, get the job done, and let’s get back home.”
Donaldson’s late try, scooping up a loose ball that spilled from a ruck and racing away untouched, provided a consolation that denied the Blues a bonus point. His conversion striking the left upright from right in front summed up a frustrating evening for the Force flyhalf, whose general play was tidy but whose goalkicking lacked its usual precision when it mattered most.
Perofeta, by contrast, was faultless off the tee—six conversions from six attempts in the stiff breeze—and grew into the match as a distributor, landing accurate bombs to pin the Force back and steering the Blues’ attacking shape with increasing authority. Segner was excellent in the loose forwards, Clarke looked menacing whenever he came off his wing, and Christie’s tempo at the base kept the Force defenders scrambling.
For the Force, Tizzano was everywhere as usual—the competition’s top tryscorer last season showing no signs of slowing down—and former All Black George Bridge showed his class operating at centre, but the quest for a maiden finals berth looks forlorn after just two rounds. Simon Cron’s side have now slumped to eight successive Super Rugby Pacific defeats stretching back to round eight last year, and sit at the bottom of the ladder with the task not easing as they fly across the Tasman to face Moana Pasifika in Pukekohe next Friday.
The Blues extend their remarkable dominance in this fixture to 14 consecutive wins since 2008, and head to Canberra to face the Brumbies next Saturday with renewed belief that their season is very much alive.
What’s next
The Blues remain in Australia and head to Canberra to face the Brumbies next Saturday. The Force fly across the Tasman seeking a rare win on New Zealand soil against Moana Pasifika in Pukekohe next Friday.
Teams
Western Force: 15 Mac Grealy, 14 Divad Palu, 13 George Bridge, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Bayley Kuenzle, 10 Ben Donaldson, 9 Nathan Hastie, 8 Vaiolini Ekuasi, 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Jeremy Williams (c), 5 Darcy Swain, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 1 Tom Robertson.
Replacements: 16 Leonel Oviedo, 17 Sef Fa’agase, 18 Misinale Epenisa, 19 Lopeti Faifua, 20 Kane Koteka, 21 Henry Robertson, 22 Max Burey, 23 Kurtley Beale.
Blues: 15 Zarn Sullivan, 14 Cole Forbes, 13 AJ Lam, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Finlay Christie, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Dalton Papali’i (c), 6 Anton Segner, 5 Josh Beehre, 4 Laghlan McWhannell, 3 Marcel Renata, 2 Bradley Slater, 1 Joshua Fusitu’a.
Replacements: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Mason Tupaea, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Che Clark, 20 Torian Barnes, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Xavi Taele, 23 Codemeru Vai.
Match details
Western Force 32 (Tries: Harry Johnson-Holmes, Carlo Tizzano, Bayley Kuenzle, Ben Donaldson; Conversions: Ben Donaldson 3/4; Penalties: Ben Donaldson 2/2)
Blues 42 (Tries: Joshua Fusitu’a, Stephen Perofeta, Zarn Sullivan, Torian Barnes, Cole Forbes, Josh Beehre; Conversions: Stephen Perofeta 6/6)
Half-time: 17–14
Yellow card: Brandon Paenga-Amosa (Force, 20′)
Venue: HIF Health Insurance Oval, Joondalup
Referee: Damon Murphy (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Jordan Way, Jeremy Markey
TMO: James Leckie
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