The Hurricanes have thundered into the Super Rugby Pacific final with an emphatic 57-21 victory over the Blues in Wellington.
The Canes will have home ground advantage when they play the Chiefs in the grand final next Saturday night.
A brilliant second half from the Hurricanes quelled the challenge from the Blues, who for a while looked on to cause the upset of the season, taking the game to the home side in the first half, often throwing the Canes players off their rhythm and causing turnovers.
The Blues at one stage had the lead in the first half, and while the Hurricanes hit back to lead 19-14 at halftime it was by a margin much inferior to what many pundits were forecasting.
But the Hurricanes went up a couple of gears in the second half, hitting the Blues with a double strike early in the second spell, with Cam Roigard's try followed up by Josh Moorby touching down to bring up 100 Hurricanes tries for the season. They are the first Super Rugby team to achieve that feat.
When Asafo Aumua bulldozed his way over 13 minutes into the second half, the Blues' chance of coming back looked forlorn and replacement halfback Ereatara Enari sealed it with a sniping try in the 65th minute.
They reached 50 with Kini Naholo's effort late in the match before Moorby scored his second. In the end the Hurricanes scored nine tries to the Blues' three.
The Blues lost key backs AJ Lam and Caleb Clarke who both failed head injury assessments in the first half and their absences were keenly felt in the second half.
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