A try to Peter Saili in extra time snatched a thrilling 40-36 victory for the Blues over the Waratahs in their pre-season match in Whangarei on Saturday.
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The Blues found themselves trailing late in the second half but wing Waisake Naholo scored two sensational tries before Saili bashed his way over from close range to clinch the win after the siren had sounded.
“I was really happy with their courage and commitment today,” said Blues head coach John Kirwan.
“We did some really good things. We went away from our systems a wee bit but then worked really hard. We hung in there and never gave up so they’re all things that you can be proud of so I was pretty proud of them today,” he said.
The Waratahs had the Blues stretched early on as they found space out wide, but it was the home side who struck first through exciting young wing Lolagi Visinia.
Following some quick ruck ball, Francis Saili sucked in two defenders before offloading to centre Rene Ranger, and from there it was a simple draw and pass as Visinia crossed the whitewash untouched.
Fullback Albert Nikoro’s conversion gave the Blues a 7-0 lead after 12 minutes, but the Waratahs hit back just before the end of the first quarter.
Wallabies flank Michael Hooper put in a strong performance and it was his turnover on the Blues’ five metre line that led to fullback Cam Crawford scoring for the visitors.
From a quick line-out deep inside their own half the Blues sparked an attacking raid as Ranger, Francis Saili and Visinia combined to give the Blues an attacking five metre line-out.
From there the bruising forwards took over, mauling the ball over the try line as No.8 Peter Saili came up with the five pointer to give the Blues a 12-7 lead at halftime.
Kirwan made a raft of changes to personnel in the second stanza and it seemed to stifle the Blues’ momentum as the Waratahs roared back into the match.
Centre Malakai Fekitoa’s grubber kick backfired as Waratahs flank Jed Holloway latched onto it and ran 40 metres to score.
Israel Folau’s introduction to the game at half-time had an immediate impact as he found plenty of holes in the Blues’ defence and set up wing Tom Kingston for a brace of tries.
The Blues managed to narrow the deficit to just five points through prop Tim Perry who produced a lovely show-and-go to crash over under the sticks, but some more slick footwork by Folau saw him carve up the defence to score a brilliant individual try.
However Waisake Naholo caught the ball from the ensuing re-start to run away for a sensational try, before bagging his second soon afterwards to put the Blues ahead 33-31 with just 11 minutes remaining.
Kingston’s third try of the afternoon appeared to have clinched the victory for the visitors with just minutes left on the clock, but Saili’s try at the death following a sustained passage of play snatched it for the Blues as the 5,000 strong Northland crowd erupted into applause.
Blues captain Ali Williams produced a solid performance in his first game of the year, putting in some big hits in defence and carrying the ball strongly before being substituted at half time.
Crowd favourite Rene Ranger always threatened with ball in hand and created a number of try scoring opportunities, while Culum Retallick, George Moala and Chris Noakes all made successful returns to action following injuries.
The Blues will complete their pre-season preparations with a trial match against the Highlanders in Queenstown on Friday.
The scorers:
For the Blues:
Tries: Peter Saili 2, Naholo 2, Visinia, Perry
Cons: Nikoro con, Kerr 4
For the Waratahs:
Tries: Kingston 3, Crawford, Holloway, Folau
Cons: McKibbin con,Foley con,Lucas
The teams:
Blues: 15 Albert Nikoro, 14 George Moala, 13 Rene Ranger, 12 Francis Saili, 11 Lolagi Visinia, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Bryn Hall, 8 Peter Saili, 7 Luke Braid, 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Ali Williams (captain), 4 Liaki Moli, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Quentin MacDonald, 1 Tom McCartney.
Replacements: 16 James Parsons, 17 Tim Perry, 18 Culum Retallick, 19 Brendon O’Connor, 20 Charlie Faumuina, 21 Ronald Raaymakers, 22 Kane Barrett, 23 Jamison Gibson-Park, 24 Malakai Fekitoa, 25 Marty McKenzie, 26 Baden Kerr, 27 Waisake Naholo, 28 Frank Halai.
Waratahs squad: Michael Alaalatoa, Richard Aho,Kotoni Ale, Tom Carter, Cam Crawford, Kane Douglas, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley, Michael Hodge, Jed Holloway, Luke Holmes, Michael Hooper, Rob Horne, AJ Gilbert, Tom Kingston, Matt Lucas, Brendan McKibbin (captain), Tolu Latu, Dane Maraki, Drew Mitchell, Elijah Niko, Greg Peterson, Paddy Ryan, Jeremy Tilse, Lachie Turner, Peter Samu, Will Skelton, John Ulugia, Ben Volavola.
Referee: Jono White
Assistant referees: Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri, Brendon Pickerill