Publications
Partners
Tank Lanning
Cape Town - The Blues have beaten the Rebels 40-23 at the North Harbour stadium in Auckland after leading 23-17 at half time.
The Blues got their first try as early as the second minute via powerful winger Rene Ranger, who made good use of some woeful defence from Danny Cipriani.
Stephen Brett could have made the scoreline a lot bigger but missed two relatively easy penalties and a sitter conversion attempt in front of the poles. This had Blues coach Pat Lam reaching for the shepherds hook with Luke McAlister replacing Brett in the 50th minute.
After getting off to a very shaky start, the Rebels did well to pull themselves together and mount a credible fightback, bolstered by some pin point kicking from Cipriani, that saw them only five points in arrears with ten minutes to go in the game.
But the Blues managed two tries via Jared Payne and Luke Braid in the closing minutes to secure the five log points they needed to take them to the top of the New Zealand conference.
Scorers:
Blues:
Tries - Ranger (2), Rokocoko, Stanley, Payne, Braid
Conversions: Brett, McAlister
Penalties: Brett (2)
Rebels:
Tries: Vuna, Mitchell
Conversions: Cipriani (2)
Penalties: Cipriani (2)
Teams:
Blues: 15 Isaia Toeava, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Rene Ranger, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Peter Saili, 7 Luke Braid, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Anthony Boric, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu (captain), 1 Tony Woodcock
Substitutes: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Tevita Mailau, 18 Filo Paulo, 19 Chris Lowrey, 20 Toby Morland, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Lachie Munro
Rebels: 15 Richard Kingi, 14 Lachlan Mitchell, 13 Mark Gerrard, 12 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Jarrod Saffy, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Rodney Blake
Substitutes: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Laurie Weeks, 18 Hoani Macdonald, 19 Tim Davidson, 20 AN Other, 21 James Hilgendorf, 22 Luke Rooney
Referee: Jonathon White (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Cape Town - The Blues have beaten the Rebels 40-23 at the North Harbour stadium in Auckland after leading 23-17 at half time.
The Blues got their first try as early as the second minute via powerful winger Rene Ranger, who made good use of some woeful defence from Danny Cipriani.
Stephen Brett could have made the scoreline a lot bigger but missed two relatively easy penalties and a sitter conversion attempt in front of the poles. This had Blues coach Pat Lam reaching for the shepherds hook with Luke McAlister replacing Brett in the 50th minute.
After getting off to a very shaky start, the Rebels did well to pull themselves together and mount a credible fightback, bolstered by some pin point kicking from Cipriani, that saw them only five points in arrears with ten minutes to go in the game.
But the Blues managed two tries via Jared Payne and Luke Braid in the closing minutes to secure the five log points they needed to take them to the top of the New Zealand conference.
Scorers:
Blues:
Tries - Ranger (2), Rokocoko, Stanley, Payne, Braid
Conversions: Brett, McAlister
Penalties: Brett (2)
Rebels:
Tries: Vuna, Mitchell
Conversions: Cipriani (2)
Penalties: Cipriani (2)
Teams:
Blues: 15 Isaia Toeava, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Rene Ranger, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Peter Saili, 7 Luke Braid, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Anthony Boric, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu (captain), 1 Tony Woodcock
Substitutes: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Tevita Mailau, 18 Filo Paulo, 19 Chris Lowrey, 20 Toby Morland, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Lachie Munro
Rebels: 15 Richard Kingi, 14 Lachlan Mitchell, 13 Mark Gerrard, 12 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Gareth Delve, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Jarrod Saffy, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Rodney Blake
Substitutes: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Laurie Weeks, 18 Hoani Macdonald, 19 Tim Davidson, 20 AN Other, 21 James Hilgendorf, 22 Luke Rooney
Referee: Jonathon White (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
