Harry Plummer (left) and Adam Thomson (Getty).
The Blues beat the winless Chiefs 21-17 in Auckland on Sunday to stay in the hunt for the Super Rugby Aotearoa title.
It was a tightly-contested affair and, having scored 17 unanswered points to take the lead, it looked like the Chiefs were on course to register their first win of the season.
Instead, the Blues scored three tries to two from their opposition to seal the victory as the Chiefs under British & Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland fell to their sixth straight loss of the competition.
The Blues, meanwhile, move back up to second place on the log and they are now just two points behind the Crusaders, who suffered a rare defeat at home to the Hurricanes on Saturday.
More to follow …
Scorers:
Blues 21
Tries: Matt Duffie, Patrick Tuipulotu, Finlay Christie
Conversions: Beauden Barrett (3)
Chiefs 17
Tries: Lachlan Boshier, Solomon Alaimalo
Conversions: Damian McKenzie (2)
Penalty: McKenzie.
Teams:
Blues
15 Matt Duffie, 14 Mark Telea, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Finlay Christie, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Dalton Papalii, 6 Blake Gibson, 5 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu (captain), 3 Ofa Tuungafasi, 2 Kurt Eklund, 1 Alex Hodgman
Substitutes: 16 Tolai Luteru, 17 Karl Tu’inukuafe,, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Josh Goodhue, 20 Tony Lamborn, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Otere Black, 23 Harry Plummer
Chiefs
15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Solomon Alaimalo, 10 Kaleb Trask, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Pita Gus Sowakula, 7 Sam Cane (captain), 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Mitchell Brown, 4 Tupou Vaa’i, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Bradley Slater, 1 Reuben O’Neill
Substitutes: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Mitchell Karpik, 21 Lisati Milo-Harris, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Quinn Tupaea
