The Blues started their 2023 Super Rugby Pacific campaign with a convincing 60-20 victory over the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday, with Mark Telea starting the rout with a clinical finish.
Telea delivered an outstanding attacking performance and crossed the whitewash on two occasions, and he went over for the Auckland-based outfit’s first try as early as the 13th minute.
This, after running onto a pass from Ofa Tuungafasi and the All Blacks flyer, showed his class as he went past Folau Fakatava before finishing in the right-hand corner.
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Beauden Barrett added the extras to give the Blues a 10-3 lead, after he had traded penalties with Sam Gilbert during the game’s early stages.
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Gilbert slotted another three-pointer off the kicking tee before the visitors took control of proceedings as they ran in three further tries – scored by Barrett, Caleb Clarke and Rieko Ioane – which were all converted by the Blues fly-half.
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That gave the visitors a 31-6 lead by the half-hour mark, but the Highlanders struck back with two converted five-pointers from Mitch Hunt and Josh Timu, which meant the Blues were up 31-20 at half-time.
The Blues continued to dominate after the interval and extended their lead in the 54th minute when Marcel Renata scored their fifth try before Dalton Papalii also got his name on the scoresheet with a five-pointer 10 minutes before full-time.
However, the visitors were not done yet as in the 73rd minute, Telea intercepted a wayward Highlanders pass close to the halfway line before racing away to score his second try and shortly before the end, Ioane also sealed his brace and a convincing victory in their Super Rugby Pacific opener.
Video credit: Super Rugby Pacific