Nine in a row for table-topping Hurricanes

The Hurricanes made it nine wins in a row on Friday as they moved back to the top of the Super Rugby standings with a 36-15 victory over the Blues.

After defeat to the Bulls in their opening fixture the Canes have not looked back, and that continued at Eden Park as they ran in five tries to seal a bonus point.

Led my new England recruit Brad Shields, the Hurricanes were quickly out of the blocks and opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Sam Lousi handed off to Ricky Riccitelli.

A Stephen Perofeta penalty got the Blues on the board and by the 26th minute the hosts were ahead. Sonny Bill Williams broke the Hurricanes' line before offloading one-handed to Orbyn Leger and the centre raced clear to score.

It did little to stem the Canes' momentum, though, and by the break Gareth Evans' barn-storming run led to a try that Beauden Barrett converted to put the visitors back in front.

Ofa Tu'ungafasi kept the Blues in the game with an early score after the restart but, while that proved their last points on the board, the Hurricanes were far from finished.

Nehe Milner-Skudder, Matt Proctor and Lousi all crossed in the final 20 minutes as they finished with a flourish, Barrett adding two conversions and a penalty to give the score extra gloss.