Otago get a dose of the Blues
Auckland Blues romped to a 40-15 victory over Otago Highlanders in their Super 14 clash at Carisbrook on Saturday.
By Simon Dilger
Last Updated: 10/05/08 1:43pm
Auckland Blues romped to a five-try 40-15 victory over Otago Highlanders in their Super 14 clash at Carisbrook on Saturday.
Stand-off Nick Evans notched up 23 of the Blues' points, including two tries on his first appearance at his former home ground.
The All Blacks flyhalf, who signed for London club Harlequins this week, added to his two first-half tries with three penalties and two conversions to help keep his side's playoff hopes alive.
Evans scored the Blues first 21 points as the visitors opened up to a 26-3 halftime lead with Rudi Wulf and Anthony Tuitivake adding tries to claim the vital four-try bonus point.
Crunch time
Otago attempted a fightback in the second half, Aaron Bancroft and Adam Thompson crossing to close the gap to 26-15.
But Auckland turned the screws and pulled away from the home side through Tuitivake's try and another from David Smith.
"We talked about it all week," said Evans. "We came down here to do a job, we did it and we're still in (the competition)."
"Our job tonight was (to get) five points. We knew to give ourselves a shot at the title we needed a bit of momentum. We needed five points and got it."
Those five points saw the Blues jump from eighth to fourth place pending the outcome of other 13th round matches.
Auckland face Wellington in the final round next week in a potential decider for who qualifies for the semi-finals.
Blues captain Troy Flavell said: "It's got to the crunch time in the competition and that win was vital for us."
