Blues deny Rebels second away win, secure bonus point to get a place in Super XV Top 3
Auckland Blues’ five points of the match against the Melbourne Rebels will enable them to secure the third position on the Super XV combined table.
Blues hosted the Rebels in Albany today on Friday April 22, 2011. Blues although not as impressive as they should have been against the super rugby have to work hard for their win. Blues for now are at the top of the Super XV table but this will likely to
change as both Reds and Crusaders play their round 10 matches during the weekends.
Rebels suffered a blow just before the start of the match as their Centre Mark Gerrard was ruled out of the game due to the hamstring injury. Julian Huxley started at the Centre in place of Gerrard with Afusipa Taumoepeau coming on the bench.
Blues although victorious but would be utterly disappointed with their performance during the game as they failed to put on the performance as they did during the first and last 10 minutes of the game.
Blues won the penalty during the first minute of the game and opted to kick for touch. Blues Winger Rene Ranger collected the pass on the wing and scored a try; after overcoming three tackles. Blues Fly Half Stephen Brett took the conversion and missed it. They
were enjoying both ball possession and territory possession and kept continuous pressure on Rebels defence.
During the 12th minute of game Blues scored their second try through Rene Ranger after Blues Scrum Half Alby Mathewson kicked the ball behind the Rebels leaving Ranger to do some chasing. Blues Brett missed his second conversion of the game. Rebels opened
their account in the match with their Fly Half Danny Cipriani scoring his first penalty of the game.
They lost the ball to Blues Centre Jared Payne who then breaks the line and gives a pass to their Winger Joe Rokocoko to score the third try for the hosts in the 16thminute of the game, which was followed by Brett’s first successful conversion after missing
two. Rebels were staying close with the Blues as they scored their first try of the game with their Winger Cooper Vuna followed by the Cipriani’s conversion in the 22nd minute of the game.
Stephen Brett again extended the Blues lead with his 25th minute penalty but Rebels hit back with Lachlan Mitchell’s try followed by Cipriani’s conversion to cut down the deficit to just three points. Brett scored his last penalty of the game during the
31st minute to take the scorecard tp 23-17 that remained the same until the end of the first half.
Blues started the second half strongly and won the penalty during the first minute of the game but failed to capitalise. Blues Centre Benson Stanley scored his team fourth try in the game to earn a try bonus point for the team during the 46th minute.
Rebels reorganised and started to build some momentum as they were enjoying both ball and territory possession. Rebels put their first score on the board as Cipriani successfully slot a penalty during the 65th minute of the game.
Blues fail to make impression as Rebels Fly Half’s penalty reduced the deficit to just three points. 10 minutes remaining in the game, Blues in bid to create scoring opportunities started the kicking game that in the end worked for them as they score two
tries in the remaining time. The two tries came from their Centre Jared Payne in the 73rd minute and Luke Braid during the 78th minute of the game respectively. At the end of the game scorecard read 40 -23, which definitely did not truly reflect how the match
progressed.
Rebels would be disappointed with the result as they lost to earn the losing bonus point whoever they did make Blues sweat to score the points. Rebels would need to improve their tackling, control the ball handling errors as they this have cost them the
game, and their second away win.
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