Blues on board at last after thrilling win over Hurricanes

The Blues are on the board, with Mark Tele'a's stunning try in the 71st minute ultimately the difference in a 33-28 win over the Hurricanes at Sky Stadium.

The defending champions' All Black contingent had been quiet throughout the game, before bursting into life with Beauden Barrett and Caleb Clarke combining on the left to send Tele'a down the other wing for a spectacular finish.

Despite a red card to Hoskins Sotutu and a late charge by the home side, the Blues hung on with a goal-line stand in rather controversial circumstances when referee Angus Gardner held up play for several minutes to determine if the visitors could make a substitution.

The upshot was the Blues had no specialist halfbacks on at the end, with Barrett enlisted to put the ball into two crucial and hotly contested scrums on his team's line at the end.

Hunting for a converted try which would have won them the game, the Hurricanes' scrum had the Blues going backwards, but rather than winning a penalty, ref Gardner penalised the home side's front row for "angling in".

It was the Harry Godfrey show for the Hurricanes in the first half, with the first five scoring all 19 points through four penalties and a converted try.

The impressive youngster added a conversion of Kini Naholo's try and another penalty goal in the second half, which looked to have been enough before Tele'a's heroics.

The Blues started strongly with a penalty try off a dominant scrum, then Ricky Riccitelli scored off a strong run by Patrick Tuipulotu. Sotutu scored his first try of the season but it's fair to say that the game was pretty sloppy in patches between the tries.

As well as Sotutu's red card, the Blues may well be missing Dalton Papli'i for next weekend too after the All Black flanker left the field with an HIA.

Still, it meant the Blues could finally celebrate a win after two disappointing losses to start the season. They face the Brumbies at Eden Park on Friday, while the Hurricanes take their bye week.