BLUES 50 - 32 CHEETAHS
9:26pm: Highlights will be available shortly. Thanks for tuning in.
FULLLTIME: The Blues have claimed their third straight win, outscoring the Cheetahs eight tries to four for the win.
79mins: Declan O’Donnell tries his best Matt Duffie impersonation and flies over to score to try, but I don't think he made it. TMO will take a look.
78mins: Blues might score one more here. They have a lineout inside the Cheetahs 22.
76mins: TRY CHEETAHS: As I say that, the Cheetahs score again. Elandre Huggett has his second off a lineout.
75mins: Awful pass by the Cheetahs and they can't do much right in the second half.
74mins: Cheetahs still fighting. They get close to the 22. Now they win a scrum.
71mins: Play is underway nothing much happened in the reviewed play.
70mins: Time is off as the TMO is looking for a late tackle.
68mins: TRY BLUES: Melani Nanai scores the eighth try for the Blues and his fifth of the season. Great long distance try. George Moala makes the break and finds Rieko Ioane and he finds Nanai who scores.
65mins: Cheetahs kick the ball and look to regather close to the line, but the Blues dive on it. They kick the ball into touch, but they will get it back as they had a penalty advantage.
63mins: Cheetahs win a penalty holding the Blues out again. They now kick towards touch.
61mins: Cheetahs try running the ball inside their 22. But they eventually clear the ball. Both sides making changes.
59mins: Back-and-forth contest now. Blues so close to scoring their eighth try. But the maul is colapsed.
57mins: TRY CHEETAHS: Elandre Huggett scores for the Cheetahs. Easy try from the lineout, barging his way over from the maul.
55mins: Cheetahs now close to scoring range. Referee is speaking to James Parsons abaout all the penalties they are giving away.
53mins: TRY BLUES: Rieko Ioane has his second. Assisted by his brother Akira. We have a blowout on the cards.
51mins: TRY BLUES: Augustine Pulu scores the bonus point try for the Blues.
50mins: Cheetahs try to take the throw quickly, but in doing so they give the lineout throw to the Blues. I don't know how that works but it happened.
48mins: Cheetahs have the ball again. Over five phases with the ball, but they drop the ball. The Blues are on top right now.
46mins: TRY BLUES: Try number five for the Blues. Steven Luatua gets the ball from Charlie Faumuina who powers his way over for the five-pointer.
44mins: from the scrum the Blues make three strong runs and the Blues are inside the Cheetahs half.
43mins: Cheetahs have the ball inside the Blues half and the homeside win the ball after the Cheetahs colapsed the maul. The Blues opt for the scrum.
41mins: Piers Francis will not return Ihaia West on the field.
40mins: The secondhalf is underway in Auckland. Blues leading by six points.
HALFTIME: Sold first half from both sides but the Blues lead 24-18 at the break.
42mins: PENALTY GOAL CHEETAHS: The away side now trail by six points.
41mins: Another penalty and the Cheetahs are going for the points.
39mins: Some breaking news here and Lelia Masaga has signed with the Glasgow Warriors. He will be joining Dave Rennie at the club.
37mins: PENALTY GOAL CHEETAHS: The Cheetahs now trail by nine points with just over two minutes remaining in the first half.
36mins: Cheetahs want to hit back before the break, and they win a penalty inside the 22. They will go for the points.
34mins: TRY BLUES: Patrick Tuipulotu scores a beautiful try. A well-constructed play. Scott Scrafton has the ball on the wing and throws a chest pass to Tuipulotu who does a spin and he is dragging Clayton Blommetjies behind him and eventually fall over the line.
32mins: Another penalty to the Blues for a deliberate knockdown. Piers Francis is down and looks to be in pain as he grabs his knee..... He is now up and appears to be fine.
30mins: The away side has the ball, but more great defence from the Blues earns them a penalty.
29mins: Eventually a lucky bounce goes the Cheetahs way and they make a break and kick the ball away and the Blues gather possession.
28mins: Cheetahs have the ball again inside the Blues half, but they are moving backwards.
26mins: Another penalty to the Cheetahs on the 22m line. They will kick towards touch. After the lineout, the Blues win the turnover. Missed opportunity by the Cheetahs.
25mins: After all that, it is a penalty to the Cheetahs after a Blues player tried slowing the play down.
24mins: Blues kick the ball out from the restart and the Cheetahs will have a lineout just inside the Blues half. Now a fight breaks out. Not sure if any punches were thrown.
23mins: TRY BLUES: Akira Ioane scores the Blues third try of the match. The forward gets the ball and breaks two tackles and slides over for his fourth of 2017.
21mins: Blues win a penalty at the ruck. Francis kicks the ball away and Raymond Rhule tries to keep the ball infield but fails to do so. Blues ball inside the 22.
20mins: Cheetahs lineout on the halfway line.
18mins: TRY BLUES: Scott Scrafton scores the try under the black dot. The Lock breaks a tackle and crawls over the line as the Blues take the lead again.
17mins: The Blues are forced to make an early change Pauliasi Manu is off and Ofa Tu’ungafasi is on. Blues kick towards touch and are very close to the line.
16mins: Blues attacking down the left wing again go inside the 22. The Blues win a penalty right in front of the posts.
15mins: Even though they have not beaten a New Zealand team in 2017, the Cheetahs sure love playing New Zealand sides.
14mins: TRY CHEETAHS: Torsten van Jaarsveld scores his fourth try of the season. The Cheetahs push hard at the maul and eventually crash over and they take the lead back.
13mins: Another lineout to the Cheetahs five metres from the line.
12mins: Both teams lay some forceback, and the Cheetahs win the battle as they have a lineout inside the 22. Another good scoring change comming up for the away side.
10mins: TRY BLUES: Rieko Ioane scores for the Blues after some great attack down the left wing. Melani Nanai offloads the ball to Ioane who dives over.
8mins: From the restart, the Cheetahs try clear the ball, but it is charged down.
7mins: TRY CHEETAHS: Francois Venter the skipper scores the first try of the match. The away side spread the ball wide and Venter powers his way over. It looked like he didn't get it down but determination sees the centre dot the ball down.
6mins: Niell Jordaan with a nice run for the Cheetahs as they edge towards the 22.
4mins: Blues take the lineout quickly and catch the Cheetahs off guard. But great defence by the away side forces the Blues back and they are pushed into touch. Cheetahs ball.
3mins: Cheetahs run with the ball, but great defence by the Blues as they push them into touch inside Cheetahs territory.
2mins: Piers Francis makes a break and finds George Moala who finds Patrick Tuipulotu, but he drops the ball and the Cheetahs gain possession. The Blues are called for being offside at the ruck and the away side will clear the ball downfield.
1mins: Melani Nanai drops the ball but it goes backwards. The Blues look to score early. Attacking down the left wing as the referee has a penalty advantage.
KICKOFF: We are underway in Auckland. Piers Francis gets the match started.
7:34pm: Blues are out on the field. Kickoff moments away.
7:33pm: The Cheetahs are the first team on the field.
7:31pm: The weather has been awful in Auckland all day but has improved immensely for kickoff. Surface could be slippery which could potentially cause both sides to make mistakes.
Hello and welcome to live updates of the Blues hosting the Cheetahs at Eden Park in Auckland.
We bring you live streaming written commentary, video highlights (be sure to refresh your browser) and all the action. Highlights will be available as soon as the final whistle goes.
Commentary will start from around 7:30pm (NZT). In the meantime check out the video above as Blues coach Tana Umaga talks about the changes made to his side for their clash against the Cheetahs.
Lineups
Blues
1. Pauliasi Manu, 2. James Parsons (c), 3. Charlie Faumuina, 4. Patrick Tuipulotu, 5. Scott Scrafton, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Blake Gibson, 8. Akira Ioane, 9. Augustine Pulu, 10. Piers Francis, 11. Rieko Ioane, 12. TJ Faiane, 13. George Moala, 14. Declan O’Donnell, 15. Melani Nanai
Reserves - 16. Hame Faiva, 17. Alex Hodgman, 18. Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19, Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 20, Kara Pryor, 21, Sam Nock, 22, Ihaia West, 23, Michael Collins
Cheetahs
1. Charles Marais, 2. Torsten van Jaarsveld, 3. Tom Botha, 4. Carl Wegner, 5. Francois Uys, 6. Niell Jordaan, 7. Oupa Mohoje, 8. Henco Venter, 9. Tian Meyer, 10. Fred Zeilinga, 11. Raymond Rhule, 12. William Small-Smith, 13. Francois Venter (c), 14. Sergeal Petersen, 15. Clayton Blommetjies
Reserves - 16. Elandre Huggett, 17. Ox Nche, 18. Johan Coetzee, 19. Armandt Koster, 20. Uzair Cassiem, 21. Shaun Venter, 22. Niel Marais, 23. Clinton Swart
Match facts and stats
Referee: Brendon Pickerill
Assistants: Glen Jackson, Angus Mabey
TMO: Aaron Paterson
The Cheetahs have won three of their last five games against the Blues after having never between them in five games between 1997 and 2009.
However, each of the last six games between these teams has been won by the home side on the day, and the Cheetahs are yet to win when visiting Auckland (L4).
The Blues return home after a fortnight on the road and will be looking to avoid consecutive home defeats for the first time since losing their last three home games in 2015.
The Auckland squad have won four of their last five games against teams from South Africa; having won just one in nine prior to this streak.
The Cheetahs have lost 10 straight games away from home, the last and only time they lost more in succession was a drought of 13 away losses spanning the entirety of the 2008 and 2009 campaigns.
Only one of the last four games where a South African team has visited Auckland has a team led at both half and full-time.
The Cheetahs remain the most accurate goal kicking team in the competition, landing 87% of their attempts so far.
Past meetings
Head to head: Played 10, Blues 7, Cheetahs 3, draws 0
In New Zealand: Played 4, Blues 4, Cheetahs 0, draws 0
Last time played: Cheetahs 25 def Blues 24, February 27 , 2015
Last time in New Zealand: Blues 40 def Cheetahs 30, March 22, 2014
Head-to-head: Blues - $1.05 Cheetahs- $8.50
Prematch banter: Steve Hansen embracing Springboks Rugby World Cup match that could 'inspire' tournament
All Blacks boss Steve Hansen has tipped his side's 2019 Rugby World Cup pool clash with South Africa to be one of the matches of the tournament and inspire proceedings in Japan to new heights.
The defending world champions were drawn with the Springboks, Italy, an African qualifier and a Repechage winner in Pool B of the Cup on Wednesday night.
Both finalists in the 1995 World Cup and semi-final opponents two years ago, the Kiwis and Boks will fancy their chances of progress to the quarter-finals after avoiding the potential banana skin of Argentina.
Yet Hansen told reporters in Kyoto he was glad to have some genuine competition in his group, between the Springboks and a burly Italian outfit.
Unlike in 2015, when only Los Pumas provided New Zealand with any pool-stage competition, his troops would need to be focused from day dot.
Like assistant coach Ian Foster before him, Hansen predicted the Springboks would be a more dangerous outfit by 2019, having struggled in their attempts to impose racial quotas and remain competitive.
The All Blacks twice thrashed the Boks in the Rugby Championship last year, including a 57-15 thumping on South African soil.
However, all overseas-based South African players will be eligible for selection during World Cup years - strengthening their playing stocks significantly.
"We're just happy we're in a pool that'll provide some challenges," Hansen said.
"Any one of those top eight teams you pair with are going to be tough - in this case, we get South Africa, a team that knows us really well, we know them really well, (and) there's a lot of history.
"It'll be one of the games of the tournament and hopefully we both play really great rugby, and inspire the tournament to go to another level."
