Blues

The Queensland Reds will look to end their recent run of tight defeats when they travel to Auckland to face the Blues.

Discipline was a problem for the Reds in the second half, conceding nine penalties to the Blues' none. Clarke found his second try courtesy of a special one-handed pass from Beauden Barrett, and the Blues flyhalf had a try of his own just minutes later after getting on the end of a perfect Perofeta kick. But Vunivalu, a two-time NRL premiership player with Melbourne , powered over on 22 minutes and he helped the Reds cut the halftime deficit to eight points, with a brutal run trampling Blues opponents and allowing lock Ryan Smith to cross.

Breaking an 18-year Super Rugby title drought with the Transtasman title in 2021, there's no reason they can't back that up in 2022. The performance in their 53 ...

The Reds didn't have much ball, but they were able to use it well when they did. Keeping ball in hand and moving it quickly, the hosts didn't struggle to find a gap in the Reds' line, and scored through Clarke and Barrett within five minutes of the restart. When the Reds got inside the Blues' 22, they seemed to get an injection of energy. While they were getting the better of the collision, the chase on long kicks down field and to get to the tackle soon saw the pendulum swing. Just moments later, he was over the tryline after running a brilliant line to get onto a short ball from Beauden Barrett, splitting the gap in the defence and getting the first try. It wasn't a perfect performance, with several loose balls and passes going to ground, and Reds winger Suliasi Vunivalu was often given a bit too much room, but for the most part it was an impressive showing of what this team could be capable of come the playoffs.

Bryce Heems, Caleb Clarke and Sione Vikena each had try doubles, as the home side ran in eight.

An 11th straight win is in the bag for the Blues, against Brad Thorn's Queensland side at Eden Park.

The Blues are now on a head-spinning 11-game winning streak and finals time can't come quickly enough now Beauden Barrett has his sizzle back.

Emergency man Albert Anae threw the ball in as poorly as the fifth-string hooker he is and a full Wallabies backrow (Liam Wright, Fraser McReightand Harry Wilson) was missing. The Blues play a terrific brand of rugby for their fans. Halfback Tate McDermott had a strong first half and winger Jordan Petaia (10 runs for 66m) ripped in as the class act he is. He was instrumental in the Reds’ two first half tries. This was the pay-off. He was switched on and used his strength to score the first himself off a Tate McDermott switch pass close to the line.

The Blues were too much for another Australian side on their home turf, taking a comfortable 53-26 win in front of 19000 Aucklanders.

Clarke found his second try courtesy of a special one-handed pass from Beauden Barrett, and the Blues flyhalf had a try of his own just minutes later after getting on the end of a perfect Perofeta kick. But Vunivalu, a two-time NRL premiership player with Melbourne , powered over on 22 minutes and he helped the Reds cut the halftime deficit to eight points, with a brutal run trampling Blues opponents and allowing lock Ryan Smith to cross. Former Dally M medallist Tuivasa-Sheck was the first to make an impact, with a slashing run driving his team forward allowing the powerful Blues unit to rumble over the line courtesy of Caleb Clarke for a 17-0 lead.

A second-half Blues' blitz has consigned the Queensland Reds to a fourth straight Super Rugby Pacific loss, the...

"The playoffs ... we'll think about that later on. But right now we just we celebrate this one and it's on to the next." "For us winning is contagious, the last couple of years we've been fighting battles ... we've got on a roll now and the winning is contagious. "We're pretty proud of our attack, but we've just got to get the ball. "We use this next two weeks to really get that belief we had earlier on in the season and we'll get back on the horse. "I'll never fault this side for effort, we just got to make sure in those key moments we're executing, which we're not doing at the moment.