Super Rugby: Blues beat Waratahs 24-21

WE don’t know when New Zealand’s winning streak over Australia will end in Super Rugby. What we do know is that their worst team can handle pressure better than our best.

Israel Folau in action for the Waratahs against the Blues on Saturday night.

IT could be next week. It could be next year.

We don’t know when New Zealand’s winning streak over Australia will end in Super Rugby.

What we do know is that their worst team can handle pressure better than our best.

Kiwi sides have won 38 successive games against Australian franchises dating back to May 2016.

The Waratahs were beaten 24-21 by the Blues at Brookvale Oval, despite holding 72 per cent of territory in the game. Unfathomable.

The Blues had lost five of their past six games and were without superstar Sonny Bill Williams.

Yet they played nearly the entire game from their half, against the Australian conference leaders, and won, kept the streak going, and heaped further embarrassment on a bruised and battered collective foe.

NSW had late chances to snatch victory.

Israel Folau in action for the Waratahs against the Blues on Saturday night.

A 79th minute cross-field kick from Kurtley Beale to Israel Folau, after 19 phases at the Blues line, was too deep and despite a flying leap from the jumping genius the ball was spilt into touch.

Then after the full-time siren, the Tahs turned over lineout possession and attacked deep in the Blues territory but prop Paddy Ryan’s knock-on ensured their fate.

NSW now face Kiwi sides the Crusaders, Highlanders and Chiefs in successive weeks and captain Michael Hooper is confident the streak can be broken.

“It’s a big narrative, we can only control what we’re doing, the other [Australian] sides are probably going to say the same thing but we’ve got another three games against these guys, three good cracks,” Hooper said.

“We’re going to focus week to week.

“This one hurts, but we’ve got to go again.”

Blues coach Tana Umaga said the streak was not used as motivation by his side.

“We didn’t talk about it, we’ve got our own issues to sort out,” Umaga said.

NSW, who’d lost 29-0 to the Lions in their previous match before a bye, still top the local conference because Melbourne was smashed 55-10 by the Crusaders last Friday night, the 37th win of the Kiwi streak.

An open first half in Manly descended into a dogfight of a second 40 minutes, and the Blues showed more composure and winning nous.

Two penalty goals from five-eighth Stephen Perofeta was enough, after they’d led 18-14 at the break.

The Blues extended that lead to 24-14 courtesy of Perofeta’s second penalty of the second half, before NSW skipper Michael Hooper scored a try under the posts, taking an inside ball from Beale, to set up a thrilling finish.

Part of the big crowd at Brookvale Oval.

The Blues scored the first try seven minutes in through Rieko Ioane following a Tahs blunder in the backfield cleaning up a precision kick from Blues halfback Augustine Pulu.

Folau threw a loose pass to Bernard Foley, who in turn through a loose pass to Beale, who lost the ball in the ruck under pressure.

Ioane scooped the loose ball and ran away to score in the seventh minute.

Ioane was denied a second try in the 14th minute when Cam Clark pulled off an incredible try-saving tackle after the All Blacks star had raced 80 metres.

Clark brought Ioane down just before the line and the centre failed to release the ball before getting back up and diving over, resulting in a penalty to NSW.

Perofeta added a penalty goal four minutes later to have his team 10-0 ahead before a sin-binning brought the Tahs back into the contest.

Kurtley Beale in action for the Waratahs/

Clark raced down the wing after a Tahs raid but was tackled high and into touch by Blues flanker Dalton Papalii, who was shown the yellow card by referee Jaco Peyper in the 25th minute.

The Tahs scored their opening points from the ensuing penalty, as hooker Damien Fitzpatrick powered over from a lineout drive.

With one man down, the Blues managed to orchestrate a try of their own when Perofeta stepped inside Ned Hanigan and created a break, with winger Tumua Manu crossing in the corner.

The 15-7 lead was cut to one point when NSW prop Sekope Kepu scored a smart try in the 33rd, with a quick pick-and-go over the line after Folau made another break down the right side.

NSW were 15-14 down but had the momentum, however handling errors and mistakes ruined any chance they had of taking the lead.

Instead, Perofeta struck another penalty just before halftime to give Auckland a four-point buffer.

The Tahs never led once throughout the 80 minutes.

BLUES 24 (Rieko Ioane, Tumua Manu tries Stephen Perofeta con 4 pens) NSW WARATAHS 21 (Damien Fitzpatrick, Michael Hooper, Sekope Kepu tries Bernard Foley 3 cons) at Brookvale Oval. Referee: Jaco Peyper.

Originally published as Super Rugby: Blues beat Waratahs 24-21