Blues winger Caleb Clarke celebrates his first-half try against the Highlanders at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
Blues winger Caleb Clarke celebrates his first-half try against the Highlanders at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
Blues 39 Highlanders 17
Two from two, and the Blues juggernaut rolls on.
Clear your schedule and circle next Sunday on the calendar. Rugby does not get much better than a sun-drenched Sunday afternoon at Eden Park. At the same time and venue next week, the unbeaten Blues host the defending champion Crusaders in a match not to be missed.
There's every reason to suggest the Blues pose a serious threat to the Crusaders securing a fifth successive title.
The ease with which the Blues dominated the Highlanders - who pushed the Crusaders in the opening match and registered a comeback victory over the Chiefs in Hamilton last week - to claim the Gordon Hunter Memorial trophy and a bonus point win further underlined their credentials under Leon MacDonald's guidance.
The difficulty for opposition is there's no one way to nullify the Blues' threats. Against the Highlanders the Blues scored from mauls, they scored out wide and through the middle to dispel any distractions attached to their week out of Auckland to avoid lockdown.
The Blues defence is vastly improved; their set piece clinical and their work at the breakdown as good as any with Hoskins Sotutu, Dalton Papalii and Akira Ioane combining superbly in the loose trio.
To highlight their dynamic, powerful ball carriers and offloading ability - the Blues had almost 100 more running metres than the Highlanders, despite possession being evenly split.
The luxury of the Blues rotating four test props every week is significant as well.
After a Josh Ioane penalty opened the scoring, the Highlanders were never in the contest.
Five tries to two was flattering in the end, with TMO Paul Williams scrubbing out another try to Rieko Ioane for a pass that clearly went backwards out of the hands.
Blues winger Caleb Clarke celebrates his first-half try against the Highlanders at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
A healthy crowd - roughly 15,000 - for the Blues' first home match of the season left impressed. And with the America's Cup expected to be finished by next Sunday, expect many more to flood through the gates to welcome the Crusaders next week.
The Blues' intent was clear early as they repeatedly turned down shots at goal in favour of using their mammoth pack to apply pressure.
On the back of a supremely dominant platform the Blues playmakers – Otere Black, Stephen Perofeta and Harry Plummer – pulled the strings by varying attacking options nicely.
Perofeta's injection into the line sparked Black's opening strike in his 50th game, with Rieko Ioane chiming in with a telling offload.
Rieko Ioane dropped three balls in the first half – one from a Black grubber with the line open – but he sent Caleb Clarke in untouched at the corner with a simple draw and pass for the Blues' second try.
By this point, the Highlanders were well rattled. Last week's hat-trick hero Jona Nareki, before departing with a knee injury, had his left-foot kick charged; Josh Ioane kicked out on the full and even Aaron Smith struggled to deal with consistently scrappy ruck ball.
The Blues should have claimed at least two more first-half tries, and led by more than 17-3 at the break.
Ioane was denied by TMO Paul Williams after brother Akira made a superb break and threw a long ball infield off his left hand. Williams ruled the pass was forward, despite it clearly going backwards out of the hands, adding to a poor weekend for the official who made two errors in the Crusaders' win over the Chiefs in Christchurch on Saturday night.
Rieko Ioane dives over for a disallowed try against the Highlanders. Photo / Photosport
In other movements the Blues dropped the ball over the Highlanders' line from a maul while Sotutu and Papalii almost went the length of the field in a brilliant loose forward breakout.
Matters got worse for the Highlanders before they got better, with Josh Dickson yellow carded for his clumsy challenge on Clarke in the air – the Blues taking advantage of their one-man advantage after the break with replacement wing Emoni Narawa dotting down.
Two more from Kurt Eklund and Akira Ioane sealed the result - consolation tries from Ash Dixon and Folau Fakatava merely papering over the cracks for the Highlanders.
Three points separated these teams at this venue last year. The 22-point margin on this occasion accurately depicts the Blues' growth since then.
