Hurricanes v Blues Stat Attack

Peter Lakai (above) scored his 13th try in his 47th appearance. It was his second try against the Blues. Lakai has made 36 starts for the Hurricanes: 18 at #7 and 18 at #8.

In association with Hurricanes statistics compiler Peter Marriott, the Stat Attack returns in 2026. Facts and figures from the Hurricanes’ win over the Blues in Auckland this past Saturday night below.

Round 14 v Blues: Won 47-24

The two sides met in Round 9 at Wellington where the home team won 42-19. The Hurricanes have won both matches by a margin of 23 points.

This was the first time the Hurricanes have scored 40 or more points in successive games against the Blues.

Since playing each other in the first-ever Super Rugby match at Palmerston North in 1996 the two sides have now met on 46 occasions. The Hurricanes have won 22 matches and the Blues 23. There was a draw in 2004.

The Blues have hosted the Hurricanes 23 times and one match was played at a neutral venue: at Dunedin in 2022. Of those played in Auckland 22 have been at Eden Park and one at Albany, in 2010, when North Harbour Stadium was a home ground for the Blues.

The Hurricanes won the matches played at Albany (and Dunedin) but only nine of the matches played at Eden Park. The Blues have won 13.

The Hurricanes have now played more matches at Eden Park than they have at any of the other opposing sides home ground. There have been 21 played in Canberra and 20 in Hamilton.

The Hurricanes 47 points is their highest score in all matches against the Blues. Previously their best had been the 45-27 win at Wellington in 2009.

The Hurricanes 47 points are also the most conceded by the Blues in a match since losing 15-52 against the Crusaders at Christchurch in their Semi-final of 2023. Some 46 matches have been played by the Blues since then.

This was also the Hurricanes first win at Auckland since 2019. They had gone five winless matches in the interim.

The Hurricanes kept the Blues scoreless in the first half, the second time they have done this. It also happened at Auckland in 2015 when the visitors led 17-0 at halftime. They went on to win 29-5.

In Round 11 (the Super Round played in Christchurch) the Brumbies also failed to score against the Hurricanes in the first half. At the break the Hurricanes were ahead by 19-0 and went on to win 45-12.

The Hurricanes have actually led every match at halftime this season apart from the one against the Force at Napier in Round 5. They were behind 5-8 after 40 minutes but eventually won 21-23.

The seven tries scored by the Hurricanes is a new record for the most scored in a match against the Blues bettering the six they scored on three previous occasions.

After 46 matches against each other both teams have scored 146 tries.

In seven away matches this year the Hurricanes have scored 45 tries. This betters their previous record of 43 tries in 2017, from nine matches played away from home.

The Hurricanes 1190 points against the Blues is their highest aggregate against all teams: they have scored 1188 points against the Highlanders.

After 14 rounds the Hurricanes have retained their place at the top of the Standings five clear points ahead of the Chiefs. They have been at the top for the past three rounds and before that were the highest placed side from Week 5 to Week 9.

Once again the Hurricanes lead in the number of tries scored (77, next are the Blues with 63), the fewest tries conceded (33, the Chiefs 38), most points aggregated (503, the Chiefs 424) and fewest points conceded (223, the Chiefs 255). Both the Hurricanes and the Chiefs have played 12 matches. The Blues have played 13.

The Hurricanes starting XV had a combined total of 919 Super Rugby caps between them. The bench totalled 315 caps.

There were eight changes to the side from that which started in the previous match against Moana Pasifika.

Three of those changes were in the backs and five in the forwards. This was the most changes made for any match this season.

Asafo Aumua wore jersey #27 in the match.

Pasilio Tosi’s try was his fifth in 49 matches and first against the Blues.

Caleb Delany played his 50th match for the Hurricanes. He is the 70th to reach this milestone. He made his

Super Rugby debut against the Highlanders at Wellington in March 2022. He has scored two tries. Of his 50 matches he has started in 31 and been a replacement in 19. Along the way Delany missed 21 matches.

Warner Dearns’ try was his third in his 11th match for the Hurricanes. It was his first try against the Blues.

Halfback Ereatara Enari started just his fourth match in 23 appearances for the Hurricanes. It was the first time he has started in successive matches. Interestingly, Enari has had a different #10 in every game he has started: Harry Godfrey, Brett Cameron, Lucas Cashmore and Ruben Love.

Ruben Love kicked 12 points and has a total of 192, including 28 against the Blues, in 51 matches for the Hurricanes. In converting Peter Lakai’s try (the seventh and last for the Hurricanes) Love brought up the 400^th conversion for the season.

Lakai’s try was in fact the 450th to be scored by a Hurricanes forward in all matches. The backs have accounted for 1096 and there have been eight penalty tries awarded: a grand total of 1554 tries.

Love had earlier missed a penalty kick, just the third attempted by the Hurricanes in 2026, and for the first time in 14 Rounds no side registered even a single penalty. A total of 75 have been kicked in the 67 matches played so far and all sides have contributed with one exception. Moana Pasifika are not interested and have none to their name.

Kini Naholo scored a try to take his total in 36 Super Rugby matches to 24. Five have been scored against the Blues including a “pair” at Auckland in 2023.

Naholo’s try was the 550th to be scored in this year’s competition.

Jordie Barrett returned to his try-scoring ways picking up his 31st in 121 Super Rugby appearances. It was his

second against the Blues. When they are added to the points he has kicked Barrett’s total against them is 85.

Jordie Barrett had not scored a try in almost two years but to be fair he did not play for the Hurricanes in 2025.

Before this try he had gone six matches (a record for him) without scoring any points.

Barrett has now captained the Hurricanes seven times on his own.

Fehi Fineanganofo scored yet another try and now has a Super Rugby record equalling 16 for the season. He shares the record with former Hurricanes player Ben Lam who scored his 16 tries in 2018. Lam’s 16th try was scored in his 18th and final appearance that year: Fineanganofo has appeared in “just” 12 matches in 2026.

A comparison of the two shows Lam scored one try on five occasions, two tries twice, three tries once and four tries once. Fineanganofo scored one try four times, two tries once, three tries twice (in successive matches) and four tries once.

Some media outlets have the Brumbies Joe Roff also on 16 tries (scored in 1997) but a great many reputable sources (Almanacks, Yearbooks etc) list him as having scored 15. I think the discrepancy arises from the Brumbies match against the Waratahs at the then named Bruce Stadium on 26 April 1997.

The Brumbies try scorers in that match are listed as Mitch Hardy (two), Joe Roff (two) and one each to James Holbeck, David Knox, George Gregan and Patricio Noriega. However, on the Wikipedia page for the Super Rugby matches played in 1997, a third try is credited to Roff while Holbeck is not listed at all. Having said

that Wikipedia has compromised itself by recording the top try-scorer in 1997 as being Joe Roff, with 15 tries.

I’ll leave you dear reader to make up your own mind.

In 2017 Ngani Laumape, also of the Hurricanes, scored 16 tries but one of them was against the touring British & Irish Lions side. He therefore does not share the record for most tries scored in a Super Rugby season.

After having started in all previous 11 matches for the Hurricanes and been on the field for every minute played,

Josh Moorby was rested for this match.

Raymond Tuputupu scored his fourth try in his 22nd match. It was his first against the Blues.

Jordi Viljoen played his eighth match but it was his seventh off the bench. His match record for the Hurricanes is: played eight, won eight. He has yet to play a game against the Chiefs or the Crusaders.

Jone Rova was awarded a yellow card in the 79th minute. The Hurricanes have collected five cards this season.

Two sets of brothers played in the match. Jordie Barrett and Bailyn Sullivan were in the Hurricanes side and Beauden Barrett and Zarn Sullivan played for the Blues. Bailyn was on the bench whilst the other three started the match. Both Barrett brothers were substituted around the 60 minute mark but because Bailyn went on as a replacement in the 63rd minute, the four missed out by about three minutes of them all being on the field at the same time.

Malachi Wrampling and AJ Lam scored their second try against the Hurricanes. In both cases their first try had been scored in Round 9.

Sam Darry also scored his second try against the Hurricanes.

Kurt Eklund was once again on the scoresheet against the Hurricanes. He has now scored five tries: one in 2020, a “pair” at Dunedin in 2022, one in 2024 and this one. Eklund would seem to only bother scoring tries against the Hurricanes in even years.

Beauden Barrett’s conversion took his total of points against his old team to 33.

Stephen Perofeta also scored two points and now has a total of 39 against the Hurricanes.

Dr Ben O’Keeffe was in charge of his18th match which involved the Hurricanes and third with the Blues as their

opponent. O’Keeffe’s previous two matches with the Hurricanes this year had been against the Fijian Drua and the Chiefs: the two matches the Hurricanes have lost in 2026.

The Hurricanes have played 434 Super Rugby matches. They have won 252 (58.3%), lost 174 and drawn seven.

The Blues have played 435 Super Rugby matches for 242 wins (55.6%), 186 losses and seven draws.