Luke McAlister helps Blues retain Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy at Carisbrook
Blues have retained the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy but defeating the hosts at the Carisbrook today, April 29, 2011.
Blues with this win have retained their top spot in the New Zealand conference and will retain their second position in the Super XV combined table if Reds do not lose to Hurricane at Westpac tomorrow.
Blues defeated Otago Highlanders 15 – 10 with McAlister scoring all points of the game for Blues.
Highlanders strengthened by the return of several of their key players allowed any easy start to the visitors. Blues were on the go from the very start of the game as they control the pace of the game. Blues were able to find the ball and gain the territory
as they earned their first penalty of the match during the fifth minute of the game, as Highlanders lock Adam Thomson was caught offside. Blues Centre Luke McAlister took the penalty but missed the posts.
Blues played the game mostly in the Highlanders half, and earned their second penalty because of Adam Thomson’s tackle on Big Joe. McAlister took the penalty and scores on it to put the first points on board during the ninth minute of the game.
Highlanders were finding their way back in to the game as they started to enjoy more ball possession. However, they suffer a major blow when lost their fly half Tony Brown due to injury during the 17th minute of the game. Robert Robinson switched
to fly half position as Matt Saunders takes the field at fullback position. Highlanders enjoyed more ball possession failed to score any points.
Luke McAlister scored his second penalty of the game during the 32nd minute of the game to extend the lead to six points. Blues were enjoying the majority of ball and territorial possession. Both teams fought at scrum, after Blues opted for the scrum in
place of the penalty during the 39th minute of the game. Highlanders lock Jarrad Hoeata was sin binned as Blues won another penalty. McAlister scored his third penalty to take the scorecard reading 9-0 at the end of the first half.
Highlanders started the second half strongly and were on the attack as they win two penalties in first 2 minutes of the second half. Make shift fly half Robbie Robinson recovers the ball and scored the first try of the game during the 42nd minute
of the game. He later followed by his conversion to reduce the Blues lead to just 2 points.
Highlanders were playing with some serious pace however; Blues recover well to ease out their pressure with the McAlister’s 47th minute penalty. Two minutes later, Robinson again reduced the lead with his only penalty of the game.
With a man down, Highlanders relatively played their best passage of the game during the initial 10 minutes of the second half.
However, Blues has the final say as they denied Highlanders any other scoring opportunities and kept them under pressure. Apart from this Highlanders did miss a few easy scoring opportunities before their substitute scrum half Aaron Smith was shown yellow
card during the 76th minute.
Luke McAlister scored his fifth try during the 65th minute of the game, which were the last points scored in the game. McAlister strong performance helped the Blues to retain Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy. The win was Blues fifth consecutive win over the
Highlanders.
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