Fehi Fineanganofo equalled the all-time Super Rugby season try-scoring record as the Hurricanes produced a devastating display to crush the Blues 47–24 at Eden Park, tightening their grip on the minor premiership and leaving the hosts’ top-two hopes in serious jeopardy. The Newcastle-bound winger’s 16th try of the campaign drew him level with Joe Roff and Ben Lam, and he will have two matches to claim the record outright.
Key moments
Pre-match – LATE CHANGE BLUES: Pita Ahki ruled out with a quad injury. Cole Forbes starts on the right wing, AJ Lam shifts to centre, Xavi Taele moves to second five-eighth.
6 mins – BLUES DENIED: The Blues drive to within five metres of the line from a lineout, but are penalised for obstruction. Push and shove breaks out between the packs before referee Ben O’Keeffe settles things with a warning to both captains.
8 mins – TRY HURRICANES: Warner Dearns rushes up and charges down a Beauden Barrett clearance kick, scoops up the loose ball brilliantly and slides over to score next to the posts. Ruben Love converts. (Blues 0–7 Hurricanes)
10 mins – TRY HURRICANES: Fehi Fineanganofo streaks down the right touchline and grubbers back infield. Jordie Barrett hacks it ahead and Ereatara Enari regathers, is tackled two metres out and pops up a return pass to Barrett, who slams it down out wide. Love converts. (Blues 0–14 Hurricanes)
19 mins – PENALTY MISSED HURRICANES: Ruben Love hooks his attempt from 27 metres to the left. (Blues 0–14 Hurricanes)
38 mins – TRY HURRICANES: The Hurricanes’ forwards hammer away inside the 22 through Dearns, Aumua, Tosi and Lakai. The relentless pressure tells as Pasilio Tosi barges straight through Patrick Tuipulotu’s tackle to score next to the posts. Love converts. (Blues 0–21 Hurricanes)
38 mins – INJURY BLUES: Ofa Tu’ungafasi fails his HIA and does not return. Mason Tupaea replaces him.
Half-time: Blues 0–21 Hurricanes. The Hurricanes piled on 21 unanswered points in an emphatic first-half display. Dearns’ charge-down try set the tone, Barrett’s finish from Enari’s brilliant work doubled the lead, and Tosi’s power sealed a dominant half. The Blues created an early chance but were penalised for obstruction, and never recovered their composure. The Blues registered 22 missed tackles in the opening 40 minutes.
45 mins – REPLACEMENT BLUES: Hoskins Sotutu fails his HIA and does not return. Che Clark replaces him.
50 mins – TRY BLUES: The Blues are awarded a penalty for offside close to the line. Sam Nock taps quickly and dishes to Malachi Wrampling, who pumps his legs and carries Brad Shields over the line to score just right of the posts. Beauden Barrett converts. (Blues 7–21 Hurricanes)
55 mins – TRY HURRICANES: Caleb Delany takes the lineout and the Hurricanes’ maul drifts towards the middle. Enari zips down the short side and flicks a sublime no-look inside pass to Kini Naholo, who sprints through the gap untouched. Love converts. (Blues 7–28 Hurricanes)
60 mins – TRY HURRICANES: Fineanganofo hurls a wide pass to Caleb Delany, who chips ahead. The bounce evades him but falls perfectly for Fineanganofo, who pulls out a spectacular somersault dive to mark his record-equalling 16th try of the season. Love misses the conversion. (Blues 7–33 Hurricanes)
64 mins – TRY HURRICANES: Warner Dearns claims the lineout and the Hurricanes get their maul rumbling towards the goal line. Raymond Tuputupu peels off and dives over out wide. Love converts. (Blues 7–40 Hurricanes)
67 mins – TRY BLUES: Anton Segner takes the lineout at the front and the Blues swing it into the midfield with quick hands. Xavi Taele dishes a lovely short pass to AJ Lam, who bursts through the gap on a 25-metre run to score. Stephen Perofeta’s conversion hits the left-hand upright. (Blues 12–40 Hurricanes)
75 mins – TRY BLUES: Segner takes down the lineout before the Blues slowly get their maul moving forward. It gathers momentum as Kurt Eklund is driven over the line out wide. Perofeta converts. (Blues 19–40 Hurricanes)
79 mins – YELLOW CARD HURRICANES: Jone Rova is shown a yellow card for a cynical infringement at the breakdown.
80 mins – TRY BLUES: The Blues tap quickly from the penalty as Sam Darry powers through one tackle and stretches out to plant the ball down. Perofeta misses the conversion. (Blues 24–40 Hurricanes)
80+2 mins – TRY HURRICANES: Devan Flanders takes the lineout at the back and the Hurricanes get their maul surging forward. Peter Lakai is driven over at the back to restore the bonus point. Love converts. (Blues 24–47 Hurricanes)
Full-time: Blues 24–47 Hurricanes
Match report
On a night when Eden Park welcomed its largest crowd of the season and inducted Sean Fitzpatrick, Zinzan Brooke and Carlos Spencer as the inaugural members of the Blues Hall of Fame, those revered old boys must have been left shaking their heads. The Hurricanes were assured, brimming with belief and utterly ruthless as they recorded their first victory at Eden Park since 2019 and their largest ever winning margin against the Blues, leaving the hosts staring at the prospect of losing home advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
The tone was set inside the opening eight minutes. Barrett, restored to the No.10 jersey after being controversially benched against the Crusaders last week, attempted a clearance kick from inside his own 22 that was charged down by the alert Dearns. The towering Japanese international scooped up the loose ball and slid over by the posts for the simplest of tries. It was a moment that encapsulated the Blues’ slack start — and the Hurricanes’ hunger.
Two minutes later, it was 14–0. Fineanganofo tore down the right touchline with the kind of devastating acceleration that has made him the competition’s most feared attacker this season, grubbering back infield where Enari showed remarkable composure to regather, absorb the tackle and pop up a return pass for Jordie Barrett to finish. The Samoan international halfback, deputising superbly for the injured Roigard, would finish the night with three try assists from the base — each one a piece of craft that demonstrated why the Hurricanes’ attack functions so smoothly even without their first-choice No.9.
The Blues steadied briefly but could not convert territory into points, twice penalised for obstruction inside the 22 as their attack misfired badly. They managed 63 per cent of possession in the first half but registered 22 missed tackles and could not find a way through the Hurricanes’ swarming defence. Cotter had spoken before the match about the threat posed by Fineanganofo and Naholo on the wings, memorably describing the prospect of facing them as choosing between plague and cholera. His team found no antidote for either.
Tosi’s try two minutes before the interval put the game beyond reach. The Hurricanes’ front row, with Aumua and Numia punching forward alongside the powerful tighthead, had been building pressure through a series of direct carries, and Tosi charged onto the ball at full pace to crash straight through Tuipulotu’s tackle. Love’s conversion made it 21–0 at the break, and the Blues lost Tu’ungafasi to a failed HIA to compound a wretched half.
Wrampling offered the Blues a glimmer of hope five minutes into the second half, powering through Shields’ attempted tackle from a quick-tap penalty to score just right of the posts. Barrett’s conversion reduced the deficit to 14 and, for a brief moment, the home crowd stirred. But the Hurricanes responded with devastating efficiency. Enari’s no-look inside pass off the back of a maul released Naholo through the gap untouched for one of the tries of the season — a strike move executed with such precision that the Blues’ defence was left clutching at air.
Then came the moment the crowd had been anticipating for weeks, even if it arrived in the visitors’ colours. Fineanganofo hurled a wide pass to Delany, who chipped ahead. The bounce evaded the lock but sat up perfectly for Fineanganofo, who pulled out a spectacular somersault dive to touch down and equal the all-time Super Rugby season try record. His 16th of the campaign in just 12 appearances drew him level with Roff and Lam, and with two rounds remaining, the record is surely his for the taking. Laidlaw was characteristically understated afterwards. “I’ve known him since he was 18,” the Hurricanes coach said. “His growth, his ability to learn, his work rate and work ethic, he’s shouldered some amount of work through the season, we’re all proud of him.”
Tuputupu’s try from the maul four minutes later blew the lead out to 33 points and prompted fans to begin filing out of Eden Park into the Auckland night. To the Blues’ credit, they refused to throw in the towel. Lam sparked the fightback with a sharp finish from Taele’s lovely short pass, Eklund rumbled over from a driving maul, and Darry bulldozed his way through from a quick tap after Rova’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. Three tries in 13 minutes briefly denied the Hurricanes their bonus point.
But the Hurricanes, appropriately, had the final say. From the restart after Darry’s try, Love found touch five metres out and the resulting lineout drive was unstoppable, with Lakai at the back crashing over to restore the five-point haul. Love’s conversion from the touchline brought up 47 points and confirmed the Hurricanes’ largest ever winning score against the Blues.
The loss was compounded by the Blues losing three forwards to head knocks — Tu’ungafasi, Sotutu and Slater all failed their HIAs — while Barrett endured a night to forget before being replaced after 60 minutes. The Blues’ record dropped to 8–5 and they remain third, but the Crusaders, six points behind with one more match to play, are lurking ominously. The Blues have a bye next weekend before finishing the regular season away to the Chiefs in Hamilton — hardly ideal preparation for the playoffs after back-to-back defeats.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, improved to 10–2 and restored their five-point lead at the summit. Laidlaw hinted that Fineanganofo, who exited in the 69th minute, might be rested next week against the Highlanders after pulling up with what appeared to be cramp or a minor tweak. “He might need a rest next week,” Laidlaw said. “He’s definitely either cramping or has slight tweaks.” With Moorby potentially returning from his calf knock, the Hurricanes have the luxury of managing their strike weapons as they close in on the minor premiership.
Match details
Blues 24 (Tries: Wrampling, Lam, Eklund, Darry; Conversions: B. Barrett 1/1, Perofeta 1/3)
Hurricanes 47 (Tries: Dearns, J. Barrett, Tosi, Naholo, Fineanganofo, Tuputupu, Lakai; Conversions: Love 6/7; Penalties: Love 0/1)
Half-time: 0–21
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand). Assistant Referees: Todd Petrie, Warwick Lahmert. TMO: Richard Kelly.
Teams
Blues: 15 Zarn Sullivan, 14 Cole Forbes, 13 AJ Lam, 12 Xavi Taele, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Sam Nock, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Anton Segner, 6 Malachi Wrampling, 5 Sam Darry, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu (c), 3 Marcel Renata, 2 Bradley Slater, 1 Ofa Tu’ungafasi.
Replacements: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Mason Tupaea, 18 Flyn Yates, 19 Laghlan McWhannell, 20 Torian Barnes, 21 Che Clark, 22 Finlay Christie, 23 Stephen Perofeta.
Hurricanes: 15 Callum Harkin, 14 Fehi Fineanganofo, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Jordie Barrett (c), 11 Kini Naholo, 10 Ruben Love, 9 Ereatara Enari, 8 Devan Flanders, 7 Peter Lakai, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Warner Dearns, 4 Caleb Delany, 3 Pasilio Tosi, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Xavier Numia.
Replacements: 16 Raymond Tuputupu, 17 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 18 Siale Lauaki, 19 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 20 Brayden Iose, 21 Jordi Viljoen, 22 Jone Rova, 23 Bailyn Sullivan.
What’s next
The Blues have a bye next weekend before finishing the regular season away to the Chiefs in Hamilton. The Hurricanes host the Highlanders in Wellington, where Fineanganofo could break the all-time Super Rugby season try-scoring record.
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