Rugby: Late try saves Blues blushes against Reds

TJ Faiane of the Blues makes a break. Photo / Getty

Blues 34 Reds 29

The Blues have narrowly avoided the ignominy of being the first New Zealand side to fall to Australian opposition, edging the Reds 34-29 in Samoa.

Kiwi teams have now won all 21 contests against Australian sides this season, with an emphatic average winning margin of 20.4 points per game. The Blues - New Zealand's worst team - have now won their last nine games against Australian opponents.

With just four transtasman contests remaining in the regular season, this may have been Australia's best chance to sneak a victory. With their midweek clash against the Lions in mind, the already eliminated Blues gave fringe players an opportunity to impress, and doubled down on that plan in the second half.

The Blues made a remarkable four changes at halftime, taking off Reiko Ioane, Piers Francis, James Parsons and Steven Luatua, to give their side an even more inexperienced look.

The hugely promising Stephen Perofeta and Jordan Trainor were given opportunities at first five and on the wing respectively, but it left the Blues with just one back (Rene Ranger) having played more than 25 Super Rugby games.

It showed, as they struggled to string phases together and couldn't find the same gaps they used to carve up the Reds in the opening stages; where a marauding backline helped build a decent halftime lead.

Their 20-12 halftime lead probably understated the Blues' early superiority. They had two tries disallowed for forward passes, and made three times as many metres as the Reds as they regularly cut through the Queenslanders defence.

The Reds barely touched the ball early on, with Ioane scoring his sixth try in his last five games, supplementing Ranger's opener as the Blues dominated the opening exchanges.

That didn't quite translate to the scoreboard, with some sloppy execution near the line combining with some so-so goal-line defence to form a dangerous concoction.

The Blues defence has largely been impressive in 2017, missing the fewest tackles in the competition, but their forwards were found wanting when defending the lineout drive twice in the first half.

They were let off the hook once, when the Reds butchered a surefire try, but they made no mistake when gifted another opportunity as Andrew Ready crossed following a rolling maul. In between the two drives, former schoolboy sensation Taniela Tupou barged over from close range to keep the Reds in touch.

As the Blues made their mass second half changes, the Reds started to mount up overwhelming territory and possession, and when replacement flanker Adam Korczyk dotted down the Reds suddenly had their first lead of the game.

The Blues hit back with the try of the game, a rapid counter-attacking move finished off by Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, but once again the Reds struck from close range as Tupou burrowed over for his second.

Just as it looked like the Reds may have done enough, a Melani Nanai break down the left wing ended with Perofeta diving over to save the Blues' blushes.

Blues 34 (Rene Ranger, Reiko Ioane, Kara Pryor, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, Stephen Perofeta tries; Piers Francis con, pen; Perofeta 2 cons)
Reds 29 (Taniela Tupou 2, Andrew Ready, Adam Korczyk tries; Quade Cooper 3 cons, pen)
Halftime: 20-12​