FULLTIME: HURRICANES 42 - 24 BLUES
80mins: Goosen shows great strength in his run before Rieko finally takes him down. West puts the grubber through for Savea to chase, he gets the bounce but JUST knocks in the tackle as he dived for the line. Blues concede the penalty and West kicks it out for full time.
78mins: Duffie does well to ride the tackle of Lam in his take of the Hurricanes kick. Shields does brilliantly to turn it over but the Blues hold the Canes player up to force the scrum.
76mins: Blues put the pressure on at the scrum and win the penalty. Akira takes the quick tap and charges ahead! He has a second crack but his pass is tapped back the Hurricanes way for Beauden to clear.
74mins: HURRICANES TRY - LAUMAPE: Nock tries the long pass but Beuden reads it, bobbles it before finally intercepting, and delivers the back-handed pass to Laumape to charge onto and he's away! He sprints 40 metres to score his fourth try! Incredible.
72mins: Duffie shows the ball and gets on the outside of his marker but Lousi grabs his collar and throws him to the ground before the ref rules it a high tackle.
71mins: HURRICANES TRY - LAUMAPE: Shields gets it off the back of the lineout, pops it to Laumape, he pumps the legs, takes on several Blues players and muscles his way over for his hat-trick! What a performance from the second-five.
69mins: Savea has a charge down the left wing before Goosen puts the foot down and is chased down. Blues are offside and concede the penalty. Canes will have the lineout just five out. Could seal the game with a try here.
67mins: Rieko takes in the restart and charges ahead. Nock clears from the base of the ruck and the Hurricanes will have the lineout on halfway. Blues steal it and now counter but Milner-Skudder brings that to an end, intercepting the pass.
65mins: BLUES TRY - COLLINS: Akira picks it up from the scrum, beats one and goes close. Clarke shows good strength in the tackle and the Blues are just a couple of metres out. There's space for Collins, he steps one before he's thrown down. Collins picks it up at the ruck and crashes over for the try.
62mins: Pulu goes flat to Rieko and he makes a strong run up the middle. Akira now has a crack, throws the dummy before breaking another tackle. Blues just five metres out as Collins has a run. Henwood is penalised for being offside.
60mins: Savea gets his legs pumping before the Blues concede the penalty. Riccitelli's throw is not straight and the Blues will have the scrum just inside the Hurricanes half.
57mins: Savea takes his eyes off the ball from Perofeta's restart and knocks on. Akira breaks away from the scrum and deliveres a beautiful offload to Pulu but he knocks on! He was in for all money there. Great play by Akira.
55mins: HURRICANES TRY - BARRETT: Hurricanes pile the pressure on at the scrum, Perenara fires it to Beauden on the charge and he dives over for the try! They're checking the grounding but there's no problem at all and it's given.
53mins: Henwood charges off the back of the lineout but he's quite upright and the Blues try and hold him up. Gibson's screaming maul but the ref awards the Canes the scrum just five out.
51mins: Perenara goes short to Savea to charge but he's well contained. Perenara's pass to Beauden is a shocker, rolling along the ground and the first-five can only knock on.
49mins: Beauden goes long this time with the kick-off and Perofeta's kick is charged down! The ball's rolling towards the try line before Nanai picks up and gets tackled. Hurricanes will have the scrum.
47mins: BLUES TRY - IOANE: Blues building nicely, taking it up the middle and they're just a couple of metres out. Perofeta has a charge but Laumape wraps him around the legs. Rieko picks up from the ruck and he dives over for his second try! Blues back in it.
45mins: Nee-Nee makes a strong run up the middle! Blues on the front foot but Perofeta decides to kick. Poor decision really and the Hurricanes have it well covered before clearing.
43mins: Blues get their own lineout ball and drive. Pulu eventually slings it to Kaino for him to charge. Perofeta shows nice feet, steps one and clears but Fifita is penalised anyway for being offisde.
41mins: Beauden gets us back underway, he goes short with the kick-off and the Hurricanes get to it first but can only tap it the Blues' way.
HALFTIME: HURRICANES 21 - 10 BLUES
40mins: Blues with one last chance to score before the break with a scrum on halfway. Pulu goes to Perofeta and he's in a bit of space! He tries to find his support player but can't link up and the Hurricanes boot it into touch.
38mins: BLUES TRY - IOANE: Kaino pounces on the loose ball and Martin charges ahead. Duffie gets a nice flat ball and takes the Blues up to the 22m. Perofeta pops a nice ball to Rieko and he's away! He puts the foot down and out gases Jordie before scoring in the corner. Gives Jordie a bit of lip too afterwards...bit unnecessary really.
36mins: HURRICANES TRY - LAUMAPE: Perenara breaks away from the scrum, runs right before linking up with a surging Laumape, he spins out of the tackle of Collins before riding the tackle of three other players and crashes over for the try. Too easy.
34mins: Hurricanes trying to bash their way over but the Blues are fronting well on defence. Shields has two cracks and almost goes over! Laumape tries to muscle his way over but is held up over the line. Another scrum.
32mins: May and Shields combine as the Hurricanes continue to pile the pressure on. They're just five metres out and get the penalty for a Blues player not rolling away. We'll have a scrum. Set piece move incoming...
30mins: Hurricanes win the lineout and drive. Martin attacks the ball carrier, Riccitelli but he's offside and concedes the penalty. They'll have another lineout just seven metres out.
28mins: Shields does well to counter ruck and turn the ball over before Goosen makes a strong run. Hurricanes go Fifita but he turns it over and the Blues counter through Duffie and he's through a gap but knocks on in the tackle before Lousi kicks down field.
26mins: Beauden puts the kick high and Akira takes it before having a charge. Blues looking to attack the left flank and ALMOST throw a costly intercept to Milner-Skudder but he can't hang on.
24mins: HURRICANES TRY - LAUMAPE: Hurricanes put on the razzle dazzle once again from the lineout, Milner-Skudder times his pass to a CHARGING Laumape perfectly and he's gone clean through before stepping one and going over for the try.
22mins: Blues win the lineout on the 22m but Akira knocks on and the Hurricanes look to counter through Jordie. He's in open space but is crunched in the tackle and knocks on. Blues now on attack and Perofeta's through! He makes good ground before they concede the penalty after Thompson made a HUGE tackle.
19mins: Perofeta's kick is a horrible one and it goes dead. Would have been a five metre line out for the Blues, instead it's a Canes scrum just inside their own 22m. Tu'ungafaasi concedes the penalty at the scrum.
17mins: Fifita gets up to claim the lineout ball and the Hurricanes try the maul. Beuaden tries the cross-kick and the Canes up with it before losing it forward and conceding the penalty for holding on.
15mins: Hurricanes counter ruck and win the ball back on halfway. Beauden turns it back on the inside for Milner-Skudder to have a step. Jordie leaves the ball behind but Akira knocks on with space ahead.
13mins: HURRICANES TRY - SAVEA: Laumape charges onto a flat Perenara pass and he's through! He busts through one tackle before offloading to Julian Savea and he dives over for the try. Great bit of set piece play.
11mins: Perenara clears down field off the back of the lineout drive and it'll be a 22m dropout. Pulu takes it quickly as the Blues look to break out. Not much on so Perofeta puts the kick up and a game of force back ensues, ending with Perofeta knocking on.
9mins: Nanai doesn't see much on so he kicks ahead, Jordie and Laumape bizarrely decide not to play at it, and Nanai picks it up before being bundled into touch just five metres out.
7mins: Perofeta lines up the shot at goal, hits it nicely and it's over! Blues take an early 3-0 lead. Beauden goes short with the kick-off and Jordie gets up to tap it back the Canes way before Kaino jumps on the loose ball.
5mins: Blues get the ball back from the scrum and Rieko has a charge up the middle. Henwood is penalised for slowing the ball down and Perofeta will have a shot at goal.
3mins: Ioane steals the Hurricanes throw and Kaino charges. Nanai does well to get on the outside of his marker and offloads in field, looked forward but ref doesn't call it. Blues making steady progress but the Hurricanes turn it over and kick through.
1mins: Perofeta gets us underway and it's Shields who takes it in. Perenara clears from the ruck and it's tapped back the Blues way.
7:33pm: Hurricanes now make their way out, led by Shields in his 100th Super Rugby game. What an effort. Just moments away from kick-off now.
7:32pm: Pulu leads out the Blues as Kaino becomes the second-most capped player for the franchise, tied with Tony Woodcock.
7:28pm: The Hurricanes have gone with a new back-three with Jordie moving to the back and Lam getting the chop on the left wing. Looking forward to Ioane and Laumape clashing too.
7:22pm: So, here we are. The Hurricanes have lost three straight, while the Blues are actually coming off of a win. Weather's a bit average, but here's hoping we get to see some of the game's biggest stars in full flight.
Kia ora and welcome to Westpac Stadium as the Hurricanes take on the Blues in week 18 of Super Rugby.
We bring you live streaming written commentary, (BE SURE TO REFRESH YOUR BROWSER), and all the action.
Commentary will start at 7.20pm.
Lineups
Hurricanes
15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Wes Goosen, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Sam Henwood, 6 Brad Shields (c), 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Vaea Fifita, 3 Ben May, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Toby Smith.
Replacments: 16 James O’Reilly, 17 Fraser Armstrong, 18 Jeff To’omaga-Allen, 19 Michael Fatialofa, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Ihaia West, 23 Ben Lam.
Blues
15 Matt Duffie, 14 Melani Nanai, 13 Michael Collins, 12 Rieko Ioane, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Augustine Pulu (c), 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Matiaha Martin, 4 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 2 Matt Moulds, 1 Alex Hodgman.
Replacements: 16 James Parsons, 17 Pauliasi Manu, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Ben Nee-Nee, 20 Murphy Taramai, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Bryn Gatland, 23 TJ Faiane.
Match officials
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
Assistant Referees: Mike Fraser, Jamie Nutbrown
TMO: Aaron Paterson
Previous results
Fri, 11 May 2018 Hurricanes v Blues 36-15 Auckland
Sat, 15 Apr 2017 Hurricanes v Blues 28-24 Auckland
Sat, 02 Jul 2016 Hurricanes v Blues 37-27 Wellington
Fri, 11 Mar 2016 Hurricanes v Blues 23-19 Auckland
Sat, 23 May 2015 Hurricanes v Blues 29-5 Auckland
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 Brumbies v Hurricanes 29-21 Wellington
Head-to-head
Hurricanes $1.19 Blues $4.55
Pre-match banter: Brad Shields' return bolsters limping Hurricanes for clash with Blues
Hurricanes captain Brad Shields will return to the starting XV for his 100th Super Rugby match against the Blues at Westpac Stadium on Saturday night.
Shields became the 14th member of the Hurricanes centurions club when he played against the Highlanders last month having made 99 Super Rugby appearances and the dramatic draw against The British and Irish Lions in 2017.
England international Shields missed last week's match against the Brumbies after he returned from South Africa following his test debut for England.
His return is one of six changes coach Chris Boyd has made to the starting side from the line-up that lost to the Brumbies.
First five-eighth Beauden Barrett, who fulfilled the second of his All Black stand-down matches last week, returns while his brother Jordie moves from centre to fullback with Wes Goosen promoted to the No 13 jersey.
There is also a couple of positional changes with Julian Savea moving from the right to the left wing while Nehe Milner-Skudder moves from fullback to the right wing.
Coach Boyd said his struggling side have owned their recent poor performances.
"The integration of All Blacks back into camp wasn't smooth and those players had performances that were sub-standard by their own high standards,"Boyd said.
"I especially though our back three was poor last week and so do they.
"They were hurting themselves. It's not the wins or the losses it's the fact we aren't playing well that is disturbing."
Boyd has also made four changes to the pack where lock Vaea Fifita and prop Ben May return along with Shields while the experienced Blade Thomson moves from the reserves into the starting XV.
Boyd said there was no shortage of motivation for the squad as they look to mark Shields' milestone in the right fashion while they were also desperate to maintain their proud home record and push for a quarterfinal to be played in front of their own fans at Westpac Stadium.
Boyd said the Blues will not be easy-beats despite their poor season to date.
"They are a dangerous side when they get it together.
"Their season is over from a playoff point of view so they will want to finish positively.
"We never take local derbies lightly and we know it will be a tough battle.
The Hurricanes have won their last six matches against the Blues, their best winning sequence against a New Zealand side.
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