FULLTIME: BLUES 15 - 36 HURRICANES: Hurricanes just far too good in the end. The Blues showed glimpses throughout but faded as the visitors romped to their ninth straight win. SBW was impressive in his return, and Milner-Skudder looks be back near his best, but did hobble off with an injury. Thanks for joining us. Be sure to tune in tomorrow night for a Super Rugby double header.
79mins: HURRICANES TRY - PROCTER: Laumape finds Jordie with a cross-kick inside the 22m, he offloads to Ardie, who shows great strength in the tackle to offload to Procter who dives over for the bonus-point try. Just how good of a second half team are the Hurricanes? Incredible. Fulltime.
77mins: Hurricanes shift right immediately off the back of the lineout. The locks combine as Lousi is put into a gaping hole by Fatialofa but his offload can only find SBW who knocks on.
75mins: SBW looking to inspire something but he decides against the offload and smartly so. Just not a whole lot of space for the Blues backline and Nanai is tackled into touch. Hurricanes take the quick throw! They want more. Moulds is penalised for being offside and we'll have a lineout.
73mins: Hurricanes still wanting to play as the try to shift wide to Laumape and delivers a nice offload on his inside but they eventually knock it on for the Blues scrum.
70mins: HURRICANES PENALTY: Hurricanes piling on the pressure as they make their way near the Blues 22m. The hosts are powerless to stop the surge and they concede the penalty. Beauden will have a shot about 28 metres out from. Easy as you like and they extend the lead.
68mins: Cowley-Tuioti is in space up the middle! The ranging lock beat everyone to the grubber through from Pulu and the Blues have numbers out wide. They try to go quick but they concede yet another penalty to end the play.
66mins: Beauden is almost put through a huge hole but he can't hold onto it and the Blues look to counter out wide through SBW, but his offload to Rieko is poor. Blues will have the scrum.
64mins: Perofeta looks to muscle his way through contact but the Hurricanes do well to keep him up off the ground and they win the turnover for the scrum.
62mins: HURRICANES TRY - LOUSI: Evans does brilliantly to steal then lineout ball and the Hurricanes with a great chance to score. Laumape gets in the midfield and they're just a metre out. Sam Lousi picks it up at the base of the ruck and dives over for the try.
60mins: Perofeta's kick is charged but they get the bounce of the ball before a miscommunication between Kaino and Clarke allow Perenara to pick it up and put the kick through for the lineout just five metres out from the try line.
57mins: Laumape gets it off the back of the lineout win and it takes a few Blues players to put him away. Blues again showing great defence by rushing quickly and Procter knocks on in the tackle.
55mins: Perenara tries a cheeky kick over the top but it finds touch up near their own 10m. Akira is penalised at the lineout for "jumping across" and the Beaudie finds touch around the Blues 10m for the lineout.
53mins: HURRICANES TRY - MILNER-SKUDDER: Savea spots a hole, but Taramai pulls him in from behind. Milner-Skudder gets it from Ardie and he's in space down the left wing, he steps Perofeta before carrying Rieko over the try line to dot down. Great finish.
51mins: Perofeta almost goes right through but he's tackled around halfway. Hurricanes turn it over and Laumape has it down the left wing! He finds Perenara but his pass is taken in by Rieko who offloads to SBW who clears.
49mins: BLUES TRY - TU'UNGAFASI: Tuipulotu finds Leger with an offload and the Blues are just a few metres out. Procter is penalised and the Blues take the tap! They've got another advantage. SBW goes very close but his reach for the try line is short. Tu'ungafasi could be over! They're asking the TMO. And it's given!
47mins: Smith made contact with Pulu's chin with his forearm. Geeze, that's lucky, just a penalty. They reckon he made contact with the shoulder first.
45mins: Blues looking to apply their rush defence once more and Beaudie tries the banana kick before the Blues return it. Multiple phases later before the Hurricanes lose it and now the Blues look to attack. Smith goes high on Pulu and it's a penalty. We'll go upstairs.
43mins: Shields runs into his opposite in the shape of Kaino but it's Taramai who's penalised for not rolling away. Beauden finds touch around halfway for the lineout.
41mins: We're underway for the second half and immediately there's a bit of forceback between the two teams. Perofeta finds touch after Lam allowed it to bounce into touch.
HALFTIME: BLUES 8 - 14 HURRICANES: The Hurricanes well and truly on top in terms of play, but the lead is only six points. Interesting change. Not in player, but refs. Peyper is not feeling well and Paul Williams takes over.
40mins: Another penalty at the scrum and it's Shields this time who's penalised. What a blown opportunity. That's halftime.
39mins: Hurricanes put the shove on but the Blues recover well to force them to break away. Taramai drives through illegally and that's ANOTHER penalty. Straight in front, but what will they do? They want the scrum. Wow.
37mins: Lousi wins the lineout and the Hurricanes look to drive. Blues collapse it and it's another penalty. They've conceded eight now. We'll have another lineout. Shields this time the target and they drive once again. Riccitelli looks to be over for his second but he's held up. VERY CLOSE.
35mins: Shields SMASHES Manu with a shoulder and then wins the penalty after replacement prop is pinged for not releasing. We'll have another lineout, just five out.
33mins: HURRICANES TRY - EVANS: Future England skipper, Brad Shields win the lineout and they shift out wide. Another penalty and Evans takes the quick tap to catch the Blues defence napping, goes low and he burrows his way over for the try.
31mins: They go back for the penalty after the Blues illegally sacked the Hurricanes drive. We'll have another lineout, about six metres out from the try line.
29mins: Taramai rips the ball free for Rieko who puts Perofeta free down the left wing, but his attempted inside pass can't find Duffie, but instead, Beauden who tries the chip kick and the Blues are forced to take it into touch.
27mins: BLUES TRY - LEGER: SBW puts a grubber through for Ioane but Christie beats him to the ball and is forced to run into touch about 10 metres out from the try line. Taramai does well to win the lineout after an overthrow. Sonny Bill Williams gets it on the charge, takes three tacklers with him, before SOMEHOW finding Leger with the offload who goes over for the try. A true SBW offload that. Nobody does it like him.
25mins: Laumape tries a no-look pass to Procter but again, rush defence from the Blues forces the knock-on and they put the kick through for Clarke to chase. Hurricanes get back first and Christie's clearance can only find touch just outside their own 22m.
23mins: Blues rush the Hurricanes again and force an average kick out of Barrett. They look to counter but Ardie is first in at the breakdown and wins the penalty. Great piece of play.
21mins: Hurricanes look out wide from the lineout win but the pass from Barrett to Procter is adjudged forward. Blues get the ball back from the scrum and Duffie grubbers the ball into touch near the 'Canes 22m.
19mins: Fatialofa this time gets up to win it but the Blues show great defence to stop the drive from getting ahead of steam. Shields looks to go up the middle but he loses it forward in contact.
17mins: Milner-Skudder has his dancing shoes on tonight and darts through a gap before Pulu tackles him high. They'll go for the lineout seven metres out from the try line. Repeat try coming?
15mins: BLUES PENALTY: Kaino wins the lineout and the Blues look to drive but the Hurricanes are defending well. They break away and look to go up the guts with their forwards. Hurricanes offside again and they opt for the three points this time and Perofeta nails it.
13mins: It's a scrappy lineout but somehow Rieko comes up with it in the midfield and he's through half a gap before finding SBW on his inside. The pressure mounts and the Blues win the penalty for multiple offside penalties. They opt for the lineout.
11mins: Bit of niggle between SBW and Procter. Peyper calls the skippers and tries to settle things down. Perofeta puts the ball into touch around the Hurricanes 22m for a lineout.
9mins: Akira now with a big of steam ahead and fends off the very English, Brad Shields. Blues go wide but a long pass to Clark is well read and he knocks on in the tackle.
7mins: HURRICANES TRY - RICCITELLI: Lousi takes in the lineout and the Hurricanes begin to drive. The Blues look powerless to stop it and all Riccitelli has to do is simply fall over for the game-opening try.
5mins: Hurricanes front-row DEMOLISH the Blues pack and they win the penalty. Barrett sends it out for a lineout just five metres out from the try line. Toomaga-Allen showed immense strength.
3mins: Lam gets the ball off the back of the lineout and the Hurricanes look to attack inside the Blues half. Taramai comes up fast on defence and forces the knock-on.
1mins: We're underway and it's the Hurricanes who get the first run with the ball. Blues show great rush defence to pin the visitors well within their half before Barrett's clearence is partially charged down by Kaino into touch around the 22m.
7:32pm: Alright, just couple minutes away from what should be a cracker of game. It's been raining a fair bit in Auckland today, but hopefully we still see plenty of running rugby.
7:30pm: Not to mention the positional match-ups, Ioane vs Savea and SBW vs Laumape.
7:26pm: Not far from kick-off now. Really excited to see these two backlines go at it. Plenty of All Blacks on show, as well as hopefuls.
7:23pm: So, the Blues are bolstered by the return of SBW, which means Rieko Ioane moves out to his more favourable position of wing. There's also a start for under 20's star, Caleb Clark.
7:20pm: Thanks for joining us. We've got a New Zealand derby on the cards tonight as the Blues look to break their Eden Park duck as they take on the Hurricanes.
Kia Ora and welcome to Eden Park as the Blues host the Hurricanes in round 13 of Super Rugby.
We bring you live streaming written commentary, (BE SURE TO REFRESH YOUR BROWSER), and all the action. Video will be available as soon as the final whistle goes.
Commentary will start at 7:20pm (NZT)
Lineups
Blues
15 Matt Duffie, 14 Rieko Ioane, 13 Orbyn Leger, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Augustine Pulu (c), 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Murphy Taramai, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Ofa Tuungafasi, 2 James Parsons, 1 Ross Wright
Replacements: 16 Matt Moulds, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Ben Nee-Nee, 20 Dunshea, 21 Jonathan Ruru, 22 Dan Kirkpatrick, 23 Melani Nanai
Hurricanes
15 Nehe Milner-Skudder , 14 Julian Savea , 13 Matt Proctor , 12 Ngani Laumape , 11 Ben Lam , 10 Beauden Barrett , 9 Finlay Christie , 8 Gareth Evans , 7 Ardie Savea , 6 Brad Shields (c) , 5 Sam Lousi , 4 Vaea Fifita , 3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen , 2 Ricky Riccitelli , 1 Toby Smith
Replacements: 16 James O’Reilly , 17 Chris Eves , 18 Ben May , 19 Michael Fatialofa , 20 Blade Thomson , 21 TJ Perenara , 22 Ihaia West , 23 Jordie Barrett
Match officials
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant referees: Brendon Pickerill, Paul Williams
TMO: Ben Skeen
Previous meetings
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 Blues v Hurricanes 24-28 Auckland
Sat, 02 Jul 2016 Blues v Hurricanes 27-37 Wellington
Fri, 11 Mar 2016 Blues v Hurricanes 19-23 Auckland
Sat, 23 May 2015 Blues v Hurricanes 5-29 Auckland
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 Blues v Hurricanes 23-30 Palmerston North
Head-to-head
Blues $3.60 Hurricanes $1.28
Pre-match banter: Blues welcome back Sonny Bill Williams for Hurricanes clash
The Blues welcome back three experienced players for this weekend's clash against the Hurricanes in Auckland on Friday.
Midfielder Sonny Billy Williams returns, having missed the last six games due to a broken hand, while prop Ofa Tuungafasi is back after recovering from a knee injury that saw him miss three games.
With Williams returning, Rieko Ioane moves out to the right wing - the fourth position he has played this season.
Rookie Caleb Clarke will make his second start on the left wing with Matt Duffie retained at fullback.
The other player to return is outside back Melani Nanai who is listed in the reserves.
The return of the trio comes at a good time for the Blues as they look to end their winless run at Eden Park.
It's been almost a year since the Blues won a Super Rugby game at Eden Park, last tasting a home victory against the Cheetahs on May 12.
Coach Tana Umaga is hoping their returning experienced trio can end that losing drought.
"It is great to have Ofa back, and it is awesome for the team to know we have him for a further three years and Sonny has been fizzing to get back on the field," said Umaga.
"In the main, we have the same team that played well last week. We will take confidence from that, but we also understand we need to lift to another level this week for this big challenge."
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