Blues pay the penalty
The Blues were made to pay the penalty for poor discipline as they slumped to a 34-20 defeat to the Hurricanes.
Last Updated: 12/02/10 11:42am
The Blues were made to pay the penalty for poor discipline as they slumped to a 34-20 defeat to the Hurricanes in the opening match of the new Super 14 season.
The Auckland franchise threw away a 20-12 half-time lead as the Hurricanes landed a record nine penalties on their way to victory.
Fly-half Willie Ripia, the only member of the backline yet to be capped by the All Blacks, slotted over five kicks with Piri Weepu adding four more to set up the win - while Hosea Gear raced home in the second half for their only try.
New signing Stephen Brett, who joined the Blues in the off-season from the Crusaders, was guilty of giving away the ball for Gear to score.
And the New Zealand fly-half endured a mixed debut, with him looking a class act in the first half, but struggling badly after the break.
Brett had scored the opening try when he ghosted through the Wellington defence, before his arcing run set up John Afoa to crash over.
Pressure
Brett also kicked 10 points in the opening period, but his tactical kicking let him down in the second half - while he also gave away too many penalties and his wayward pass was snaffled by Gear.
To make things worse for the Blues they lost centre Isaia Toeava in the 70th minute after he was sin-binned by referee Stuart Dickenson for a professional foul.
"We let the Hurricanes back in with all those penalties in the first half and weren't able to build any pressure, but in the second half it just wasn't good enough," Blues captain Keven Mealamu said.
Hurricanes skipper Andrew Hore admitted he was pleased with the way his side responded after the break.
"We were a little bit nervous in the first half, but we got our act together in the second half and put a pretty good performance in," he said.
