Blues 34-29 Reds: Stephen Perofeta's late try wins it for Blues

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The Blues, who face the British & Irish Lions on Wednesday, overcame the Reds in the first ever Super Rugby encounter to take place in Samoa

A late counter-attacking try from replacement fly-half Stephen Perofeta gave the Blues a 34-29 victory over the Reds in their Super Rugby clash in Apia on Friday.

Centre Rene Ranger, winger Rieko Ioane, flanker Kara Pryor, lock Gerard Cowley-Tuioti also scored tries for the Blues, who had taken their 'home' game to the Samoan capital.

Reds tighthead prop Taniela Tupou crossed twice, while hooker Andrew Ready and replacement flanker Adam Koczyk also scored for the Australian side, with flyhalf Quade Cooper adding nine points with his boot.

The Blues also had three tries ruled out for various indiscretions, with two coming from forward passes while the third, in the final minute to Akira Ioane, was ruled to have come from an offside position.

The Blues are out of play-off contention, despite having the eighth-best points total of 37, while the Reds, who now have 17 with the bonus point, can no longer clinch the Australian conference following the loss.

With their play-off chances gone, Blues coach Tana Umaga left several of his frontline players out of the side with an eye on their clash against the British and Irish Lions at Eden Park on Wednesday.

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The three-times champions, however, barely missed a step against the Reds with an explosive beginning when Ranger and Ioane both crossed in the first six minutes.

Flanker Pryor also scored in the 28th minute to give the Blues a healthy 17-5 lead.

The Reds managed to keep themselves in the game with tries to prop Tupou and hooker Ready from attacking lineouts that left the half-time score 20-12 to the Blues.

The Australian side stormed back in the second half as the Blues struggled with their handling in the humid conditions, with Cooper slotting an early penalty before Korczyk crashed over for another close-range try.

Blues lock Cowley-Tuioti finished off a sweeping movement as the score see-sawed back and forth before Tupou added his second try to give the Reds hopes of achieving the first win by an Australian side over New Zealand opposition this season.

Perofeta, however, touched down for his debut Super Rugby try with about six minutes remaining to end those hopes.