Blues move top after putting 50 past Force
IT was a weekend of one-sided blowouts in Super Rugby Pacific as the Blues moved top of the table after thrashing Western Force 50-3.
A woeful Western Force were held try-less as the league’s bottom side were bashed up front by a powerful Blues pack on Friday evening.
Scrum-half Taufa Funaki grabbed a double for the Blues but it was their forwards that got the job done, overpowering the Force on their way to four of their side’s eight tries.
Following tries by prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi and hooker Ricky Riccitelli, fly-half Ben Donaldson kicked a penalty for the Force’s only points.
The Blues gathered their own restart, with second rower Laghlan McWhannell crossing to make it 21-3 seconds later in a moment that seemed to drain the fight out of the Force.
If that didn’t end their chances, silky interplay between brothers Akira and Rieko Ioane which ended with a try for Funaki to give the Blues a 28-3 lead at half-time surely did.
Any thought of a second-half fightback was quickly snuffed out when No.8 Hoskins Sotutu powered over on 43 minutes, before centre Corey Evans picked off a loose Force pass and crossed untouched soon after in one of the Australian side’s more disappointing moments.
Soft defending was a theme throughout, the Force missing a whopping 28 tackles compared with the Blues’ six.
The Blues were rewarded with further tries from Corey Evans and AJ Lam and their triumph moves them into joint first, alongside the Hurricanes, although they have played one more match than the men from Wellington.
“I think our game plan’s pretty simple,” said flanker Akira Ioane. “We’ve got good ball runners and boys who like to play, so just getting in them makes the backs look good out wide.
“The forwards love rolling up their sleeves. We love confrontation, that’s what we pride ourselves on and I think we did that well tonight. We’ll go away, get rejuvenated and come back even stronger for the second half of this competition.”
Fijian Drua’s Frank Lomani and Jone Koroiduadua are set to face lengthy bans after their red cards in the 41-20 loss to cash-strapped Melbourne Rebels.
The Drua lost former Reds scrum-half Lomani for a deliberate foul when he elbowed the head of Josh Canham before the Fijians, who had won their last two matches, grew frustrated late on and Koroiduadua joined Lomani on the bench when he was sent off after attempting to head-butt Alex Mafi.
The six-try bonus-point victory courtesy of scores by Angelo Smith, Jordan Uelese, Glen Vaihu (2), Maciu Nabolakasi and Filipo Daugunu sent the Rebels up the ladder into fourth spot.
Drua were 20-8 ahead heading into half-time after scores by Lomani, Apisalome Vota and Ratu Leone Rotuisolia but Rotuisolia’s yellow card on the stroke of the interval paved the way for ill-discipline, which allowed the home side to score 33 unanswered points.
The Chiefs scored 10 tries in an impressive 6812 victory over Moana Pasifika to bounce back from last week’s loss to the Crusaders.
Wingers Emoni Narawa and Etene Nanai-Seturo bagged a hat-trick of tries in Hamilton, while fly-half Damian McKenzie landed nine of his 10 conversion attempts.
The winning margin was the highest in the competition since the Hurricanes hammered Moana 59-0 in round five last year. It was a third consecutive heavy defeat for Moana, with coach Tana Umaga’s team having conceded 175 points in those matches.
The visitors struggled to contain the creativity of All Blacks playmaker McKenzie and the athleticism of Narawa and Nanai-Seturo, who produced a sparkling display at full-back in his 50th Super Rugby match.
“Coming off last week’s performance, the coaches put the hard word on us,” said Nanai-Seturo. “We had to dominate up front and we did that, so the backs got to do their thing out wide.”
Flanker Simon Parker opened the floodgates in the 10th minute as they dominated in front of their home fans.
Debutant Sione Ahio touched down as the Chiefs went to another level in the second half, scoring four tries in 13 minutes, including Narawa’s second to bring up the half century.
Miracle Fai’ilagi salvaged some pride for Moana Pasifika but Narawa and the Chiefs celebrated with Nanai-Seturo in style as he completed his hat-trick.
The Brumbies dished out more misery on under fire Waratahs, beating them 40-16 to make it 12 straight wins against their Aussie rivals.
Four Noah Lolesio penalties, a Harrison Goddard try and three second-half scores from Rob Valetini, Corey Toole and Charlie Cale, saw the Brumbies continue their five-match win streak.