Fijian winger Kiniviliame Naholo scored a brace of tries in Hurricanes’ huge 36-25 defeat to the Blues in Round 14 of the Super Rugby Pacific on Saturday.
Just five minutes into the match, the Canes were awarded a penalty which Jordie Barrett successfully kicked between the uprights.
The Blues gave a strong response with the opening try from Mark Telea in the 11th minute before Number 8 Hoskins Sotutu, who shares links to Fiji scored from a Ricky Riccitelli set-up pass.
Harry Plummer converted once only.
Telea brought the crowd to its feet in the dazzling rain when he broke from the Canes midfield and dummied his way to pin the ball on the touchline in the 28th minute and this time Plummer converted.
However, the Blues’ joy was cut short when Cam Roigard scored the opening try for the Canes trying to merge the result after Barrett kicked the conversion for 10 points.
In the added time of full time, Canes were awarded a penalty but Barrett failed with the attempt giving the Blues a 19-10 lead at the breather.
Early in the second half, Barrett again failed with a penalty but no longer when Billy Proctor bulldozed through a scrum and touched down, adding another five points to the Canes’ result.
In the 64th minute, Telea bagged his hat trick of tries despite sub Stephen Perofeta failing to convert.
With just 10 minutes remaining, the Canes were awarded a scrum and skipper Ardie Savea fed the ball and snatched it away with a wide cross to an unmarked Nadolo as he jumped onto to score but Barrett failed to convert.
The Blues gave an instant response from Reiko Ioane in the 74th minute but the Canes kept fighting hard when Proctor offloaded the ball to Naholo and he raced in the corner to score before Telea scored his fourth try to seal the win.
