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Recap: Hurricanes vs Blues | Super Rugby Aotearoa
By RugbyPass
Follow all the action on the RugbyPass live blog from the Super Rugby Aotearoa clash between the Hurricanes and Blues at SKY Stadium in Wellington.
Keep up to date with the latest score, stats and join the conversation from anywhere in the world in our Live Match Centre (click here).
Having started the season with a 9-match win streak against the Blues, the Hurricanes are now staring down the barrel of a third straight loss to the Aucklanders.
While the Hurricanes have struggled even in their victories this year, the Blues are a completely different side to the team that's languished at the bottom of the New Zealand conference in recent seasons.
When these two sides faced off in Wellington before the season's suspension, the Blues hadn't scored a victory in New Zealand's capital since 2013, but that didn't stop them nabbing a surprise 24-15 victory. In the return fixture, the win was considerably more emphatic for the home side, with the Blues ahead 30-13 before the Hurricanes scores a consolation try in the final minutes.
Since that match - the opening game of Super Rugby Aotearoa for both sides - both sides have suffered just a solitary defeat at the hands of the Crusaders.
Following that loss last week, the Blues have made minimal changes to their side. James Parsons, Hoskins Sotutu and Caleb Clarke are all unavailable, which hands starting opportunities to the Bay of Plenty trio of Kurt Eklund, Aaron Carroll and Emoni Narawa.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, have managed two wins on the trot and have the luxury of bringing a refreshed and healthy Dane Coles back into the starting side.
The main talking point heading into the match has concerned Beauden and Jordie Barrett squaring off in the fullback jerseys. It's the first time that the two brothers have played against one another in the professional game and Beauden received plenty of comments and nudges in his first game for the Blues against the Hurricanes, so it would be unusual if his former side relented in this fixture.
Tonight's match kicks off at 7:05pm NZT
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Latest Comments
I think England obviously need to train alot more to fix their defense. Time together working to ensure each defender takes the right man is paramount or we're going to see the same amount of tries and losses. Then what? Sack the coach? What a joke that would be. The other fix is being accurate with your basics. England were sloppy to excess, dropped balls in the midfield. Charged down boxkicks, failed restarts. They need to carry out their basic skills accurately. This is a domestic club training responsibility. England should not be teaching their players catching skills. If the clubs are not spending time with skills training then the players need to step up and do it on their own time. There is no excuse for sloppy play at Test match level. They won't win squat if they don't aspire to be the best. Lastly we have the scrum which should be a strength of England but its flakey as. Okay its year one of the world cup cycle and you'd rather have these issues now that 2026 / 27 but we have alot to fix and we also have a media who won't give Borthwick the time he needs to fix them. That paragon of rugby Ugo Monye is already screaming for Borthwick's head. 14 caps and two tries and apparently he's the rugby media mesiah... ...This is where you say he's not the mesiah, he's a very naughty boy.
Go to commentsBen Smith your a biased against the Springboks -making it so obvious as a journalist makes you totally inadequate and not worthy of being taken seriously.
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