Auckland Blues won the battle of Super Rugby strugglers when they beat Western Force

Rising star Akira Ioane scored a great try for the Blues

Auckland Blues secured a welcome victory when they defeated Western Force 41-24 in the battle of the Super Rugby basement dwellers.

Blues winger Melani Nanai scored his first two Super Rugby tries, back-row replacement Stevn Luatua also went over and rising star Akira Ioane capped another outstanding display on the flank with a brilliant try.

It was a second win in 11 games for the Blues while the Force are last in the standings after suffering their 10th defeat in a row.

But it was not all good news for Auckland, as Jerome Kaino went off after 18 minutes with a damaged finger and his fellow All Black Charles Piutau suffered suspected ligament damage to his knee.

The hosts led 17-0 at half-time and a pair of tries at the start of the second-half made it 31-0 and virtually wrapped up the victory.

A Dan Bowden penalty in the second minute had the Blues on the board early and Nanai and Luatua followed with converted tries in the first half.

Luatua's try to end the half came after Force full-back Dane Haylett-Petty was yellow-carded for a careless charge, referee Ben O'Keeffe over-ruling television official Ben Skeen, who recommended a penalty only.

With Haylett-Petty still on the sidelines, Nanai scored his second try immediately after the start of the second half and Ioane then went over from range.

Having received the ball in his own half, he fended off a pair of would-be tacklers and raced 55 metres to score the try which earned the Blues a bonus point.

The Force then got on the board, Pek Cowan driving over, before captain Matt Hodgson touched down soon afterwards to reduce the gap to 31-12.

Blues replacement fly-half Ihaia West landed a penalty and scored a converted try to extend the lead to 41-12 before Ryan Louwrens and Ben McCalman managed two further consolation tries for the Force.

Blues co-captain Keven Mealamu said: “We wanted to be physical and be really direct with them. It was nice to get a good result for our people."

Force skipper Hodgson said: “Our attack is going well but our defence has got a lot to make up.

"You can't let a team get away with that many tries early on in the game but we'll keep fighting to the end of this competition."