Hurricanes 34
Blues 20
Stephen Brett started his new Blues career as a hero but his dream of a winning debut disappeared when his two errors in the second half let the Hurricanes come from behind for a 34-20 win in the opening match of the new Super 14 rugby season at North Harbour Stadium tonight.
The former Crusader No 10 Brett ghosted through a gap to score the opening try of the season in the fifth minute, kicked a penalty and set up prop John Afoa for another converted try to have the Blues 17-6 ahead after just 18 minutes.
Another Brett penalty ahead of halftime saw the Blues take a halftime lead of 20-12, with the Hurricanes' points coming off the boot of first five-eighth Willie Ripia.
The first half was a scrappy affair as both sides came to terms with new interpretations of a number of laws, particularly at the tackle.
Australian refreee Stu Dickinson dished the penalties out and Auckland were on the wrong side of the ledger as Ripia kept the Hurricanes in touch, despite missing three kickable penalties in the first half.
The Blues, with former Hurricane Alby Mathewson having a fine debut game, appeared to dominate proceedings as the Hurricanes' vaunted backline struggled to find rhythm, although All Blacks Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu produced some fine tackles.
Ripia closed the gap with a penalty in the 42nd minute and then the game turned on its head.
Brett tried to float a long cut-out pass to Rudi Wulf but powerful Hurricanes wing Hosea Gear snaffled the intercept from 40 minutes out to tie the score.
Gear, unwanted by the All Blacks in the latter part of last season, showed he was back to his best with some long runs which the Blues defence had trouble stopping.
Piri Weepu, who had shifted from halfback to first five-eighth in place of Ripia, kicked the easy conversion to give the Hurricanes the lead.
A penalty after Aaron Cruden charged down Brett's ill-judged chip kick saw the Hurricanes stretch their lead out to 25-20.
With 12 minutes to go , Blues centre Isaia Toeava was shown the yellow card after a tackle infringement and the Blues never recovered.
Another three penalties from Weepu saw the Hurricanes outscore the Blues 22-0 in the second half alone.
``We were a little bit nervous in the first half, but we got our act together in the second half and put a pretty good perfromance in,' Hurricanes captain Andrew Hore said in a televised interview.
Auckland captain Keven Mealamu was left lamenting his team's lapses in discipline.
``We let the Hurricanes back in with all those penalties in the first half and weren't able to build any pressure, but in the second half it just wasn't good enough,' he said.
Hurricanes 34 (Hosea Gear try, Willie Ripia 5 pen, Piri Weepu 4 pen, con) Blues 20 (Stephen Brett, John Afoa tries, Brett 2 pen, 2 con). Halftime: 12-20.
- NZPA
