Credit / Sky Sports- Super Rugby
The Blues and Hurricanes both clocked up wins across the Tasman on Saturday night, with Auckland struggling past the Fijian Drua and Wellington lighting up Melbourne with a firecracker of a comeback victory over the Queensland Reds.
The Blues top the Super Rugby Pacific table from the Brumbies after last night's 35-18 win in a historic matchup with competition newcomers the Fijian Drua at Melbourne's AAMI Park.
Rising to the occasion, the Drua with only one win from their previous seven games made a less than impressive Auckland side work hard for their eighth victory of the competition. The Blues led the Drua 21-10 at halftime, after making nine changes from the side that last week beat the Crusaders in Christchurch.
In the second game of the evening, the Canes stormed back from 17-0 down after half an hour to score 30 unanswered points for a 30-17 victory over the Reds, which keeps them in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Reds, who came into the game with a 7-1 record, led the Hurricanes 17-14 at halftime.
Blues 35 (AJ Lam 2, Sam Darry, Marcel Renata, Rieko Ioane tries; Beauden Barrett 5 cons)
Drua 18 (Mesulame Dolokoto, Onisi Ratave tries; Simione Kuruvoli con, 2 pens)
HT: 21-10
Hurricanes 30 (Bailyn Sullivan 2, Tyrel Lomax 2 tries; Jordie Barrett 2 cons, 2 pens)
Reds 17 (Hamish Stewart, Fraser McReight tries; Lawson Creighton 2 cons, pen)
HT: 14-17