Abbott brace secures 28-24 win over Blues

Sun 16th Apr

Late Abbott try seals win over Blues

Hawke's Bay lock Mark Abbott was the hero for the Hurricanes after scooting down the blindside of a ruck to seal a dramatic 28-24 win over the Blues at Eden Park.

Abbott's try secured the Hurricanes sixth win from seven matches and ensured they remain within touching distance of the New Zealand Conference leading Crusaders and Chiefs.

With the Hurricanes heading to Napier next week to play the Brumbies there couldn't have a been a more fitting hero than Abbott, whose match winner was his second try of a pulsating match in Auckland.

The Hurricanes other tries went to second five Ngani Laumape and irrepressible first five Beauden Barrett, who was in seemingly everything during a match that yielded seven tries in total as the two teams traded blows in front of about 24,000.

CAPTION: Second five Ngani Laumape throws off the attentions of Blues centre Sonny Bill Williams. PHOTO: Getty Sport

It was Barrett who set up the winning play with an audacious chip and chase that put his team in behind the Blues defence to turn a match that seemed to be tipping toward the home team when the Blues took the lead for the first time in the 66th minute.

Barrett was seemingly everywhere as he broke, or created breaks, regularly throughout the match.

Earlier Barrett had set Laumape free for the midfielder to score on one of the midfielder's typically bustling runs, while he also scored a try of his own after toeing ahead a Blues fumble to sprint 50 metres.

CAPTION: Beauden Barrett is too fast for Blues centre Reiko Ioane during the Hurricanes win at Eden Park. PHOTO: Getty Sport

Hurricanes head coach Chris Boyd was thrilled by his team's effort.

"They've got a lot of game-breakers, and their offloading game is particularly strong, so parts of their game tested us because we were just a little bit smaller," Boyd said. "They challenged us both offensively and defensively. It was one of those ones that could have gone either way but we're delighted to scoop the four points and keep marching on.

"The thing we can expect from our guys is they'll work for 80 minutes. We always felt if it got close as the game went on, if we kept our workrate and intensity up we might get some crumbs at the end, and it proved to be so."

Scorers: Hurricanes 28 (Mark Abbott 2, Ngani Laumape, Beauden Barrett, tries, Jordie Barrett 4 con) Blues 24 (Augustine Pulu, Melani Nanai, Scott Scrafton tries, Piers Francis 2 con, Bryn Gatland pen, con). HT: 14-21 Blues.