Hurricanes v Blues Stat Attack

Round 8 v Blues: Lost 18-19

The Hurricanes and the Blues have now met 44 times. The Hurricanes have won 20 matches to the Blues 23.There was a drawn match in 2004.

The Hurricanes have played 23 matches away from home against the Blues for 10 wins and 13 losses. One of those Hurricanes wins was actually played at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin in 2022 when they sneaked a narrow victory by 33-32.

The Hurricanes have now played 21 matches at Eden Park which is the most at any venue with the exception of their home ground Westpac/Sky Stadium, where they have played 154 times. They have experienced 13 away from home losses at Eden Park, one fewer than their record of 14 away losses at the GIO Stadium in Canberra.

The Hurricanes and the Blues have between them aggregated 1000 points in matches played at Eden Park.

The total now stands at 1007 points: the Hurricanes have contributed 477 points and the Blues 530 points.

The Hurricanes have lost their last three matches on the trot against the Blues. They have not lost three in a row since losing every one of the first eight the two sides played from 1996 to 2003.

The loss to the Blues is the ninth time (in 414 matches) they have been beaten by only one point. The teams which have beaten the Hurricanes by the single point are: the Blues, the Brumbies, the Bulls, the Chiefs (twice), the Force, the Highlanders, the Sharks and the Stormers.

The Hurricanes have beaten the Blues by a single point on three occasions.

This was the first time the Hurricanes had restricted the Blues to scoring just one try since beating them 29-5 at Auckland in 2015: incidentally the only time the Blues have been kept to a single figure score in all of their matches against the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes 18 points is their lowest total in any match since beating the Crusaders 14-10 at Christchurch last year: some 19 matches beforehand.

During the match against the Blues the Hurricanes brought up 2000 points in away matches in New Zealand. The total now sits on 2009 made up of 544 points against the Blues, 417 points against the Chiefs, 545 points against the Crusaders and 503 points against the Highlanders.

The second of the two Hurricanes tries was the 250th scored by them in away matches in New Zealand. Forthe record they have scored 66 tries against the Blues, 51 against the Chiefs, 84 against the Crusaders and 49 against the Highlanders.

The Hurricanes made no changes to their starting XV against the Blues from that which started in the previous match against Waratahs. We have to go back to the 2018 Quarter-final against the Chiefs and the Semi-final against the Crusaders for the last occasion there were successive matches with the same starting XV. Brad Shields was involved in both instances.

Brayden Iose scored his 14th try in his 46th match for the Hurricanes. It was his first against the Blues. Ngatungane Punivai scored his third try in nine appearances. Before joining the Hurricanes he had scored four tries in 14 matches for the Highlanders.

Riley Hohepa kicked eight points to equal his best return in a match for the Hurricanes. He also tallied eight points in the previous match against the Waratahs. He now has 16 points from nine appearances.

Marcel Renata, who played two matches for the Hurricanes in 2018, scored the Blues only try.

Beauden Barrett kicked 14 points and with his six scored in the earlier Round 3 match, totalled 20 in the two matches played. In 2020 he scored a try and a conversion and now has a total of 27 points for the Blues against the Hurricanes.

Barrett played for the Hurricanes from 2011 to 2019 and during that period scored a total of 124 points against the Blues. He now has an aggregate of 151 points in Hurricanes/Blues matches.

Beauden Barrett’s overall points total now sits on 1482. He is only six points shy of equalling Morne Steyn who scored 1488 points for the Bulls and who lies in second place on the all-time list of Super Rugby point scorers. The Crusaders Dan Carter is still at the top of the list with 1708 points.

Barrett’s total is made up of 1238 points for the Hurricanes and 244 points for the Blues.

Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu was awarded a yellow card in the 14th minute.

Three players namely Adrian Choat, Sam Nock and Xavi Taele were named on the reserve bench but did not make it onto the field.

Angus Gardner controlled his 17th match which involved the Hurricanes. It was the second time this season: he was also in charge of the Hurricanes/Blues match in Round 3.

Gardner has equalled New Zealand’s Brendon Pickerill for the number of times he has refereed a Hurricanes match. But they are both two short of Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Glen Jackson (New Zealand) and Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa) who each blew the whistle in 19 Hurricanes matches.

At the end of Week 8 the Hurricanes remain in seventh place in the Standings for the second week in a row. Overall, the Hurricanes have now played 414 Super Rugby matches. They have won 238 (57.5%), lost 170 and drawn six.