The Blues have bounced back from their defeat to the Crusaders to beat the Force 30-17 at Eden Park and overtake their southern rivals for fourth place on the Super Rugby Pacific table.
They weren’t the most fluent this afternoon but given they were without All Blacks Nepo Laulala, Finlay Christie, Beauden Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Caleb Clarke and the injured Patrick Tuipulotu and Akira Ioane, coach Leon MacDonald will take the win, although it came without a bonus point which may disappoint him.
The Blues outscored the Force four tries to three but the Western Australians played their part – particularly in the contact areas, lineout, and on attack late in the second half where they finished strongly.
For the visitors, former Hurricanes fullback Chase Tiatia was inventive, with former Chiefs wing Toni Pulu, who scored the Force’s first try to cut the deficit to 18-5, powerful.
The Blues’ first try was a stunner, with right wing Jacob Ratumaitavaki-Kneepkens showing remarkable acrobatic skills to claim a Stephen Perofeta kick with his right hand and place the ball over the line in the act of falling after colliding with Tiatia.
Asked afterwards on the Sky Sports broadcast about the try set up by Perofeta, who happens to be his flatmate, Ratumaitavaki-Kneepkens said of his “hang time”: “It’s actually funny because I’m not the fittest, not the strongest, not the whatever, so I’ve got to have something in my game. Luckily I got a bit of air time on that and the rest is history.
“It’s probably the hardest team in the world to crack in terms of the All Blacks in the starting line up. I guess it’s a testament of how much depth we have. We’ve got a lot of young boys who are waiting for a chance like this.”
A converted Ofa Tu’ungafasi try from close range pushed the score out to 18-0 after Perofeta’s two early penalties before Tiatia was in the action on the other side of the pitch, putting in a deft kick through the defence for Force flanker and captain Michael Wells to score.
Mark Telea’s try in the left corner after the break put the Blues into bonus point territory before Pulu took it away when scoring after a sustained Force attack, with right wing Zach Kiribige using his extreme pace to excellent effect in the final minutes.
It meant the honours were shared in the second half in terms of points, with the Force hamstrung by a lack of an accurate goalkicker after regular first-five Bryce Hegarty was a late withdrawal from the match due to injury.
The Force have never won at Eden Park but, bolstered by several new signings, they attacked the Blues at the breakdown and set piece and got some good reward.
However, with the Blues expertly navigated at first-five by Perofeta, the home side weren’t seriously troubled, and their defensive efforts in the first three quarters of the match will have pleased MacDonald.
The Blues coach, in line to join Scott Robertson at the All Blacks next year, was concerned about the need to rest several of his top players before next weekend’s blockbusting clash against the unbeaten Chiefs in Hamilton next Saturday so to ease past the improving Force will probably come as a relief.
Loose forward Anton Segner impressed, as did loosehead prop Josh Fusitua.
Blues 30 (Jacob Ratumaitavaki-Kneepkens, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Mark Telea, Ricky Riccitelli tries; Stephen Perofeta 2 pens, 2 cons)
Force 17 (Michael Wells, Toni Pulu, Zach Kibirige tries; Hamish Stewart con)
Halftime: 18-5
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