Blues survive late Waratahs comeback to extend New Zealand record v Australian franchises

The Blues held on in Sydney to earn a 40-33 Super Rugby victory over the Waratahs

The Blues survived a second-half rally from the NSW Waratahs to win their Super Rugby encounter in Sydney 40-33 and continue the winning streak of New Zealand sides over their Australian counterparts this season.

Brothers Rieko and Akira Ioane starred as the Blues withstood a storming second-half comeback to edge out the Waratahs on Saturday.

Winger Rieko scored a double and No 8 Akira went over for another try as the Blues won back-to-back matches for the first time since 2013.

Piers Francis scored 20 points with the boot to make it four consecutive wins for the Blues in Australia, ending a 14-year drought.

Akira Ioane was among the try scorers as the Blues surged into a 26-0 lead in Australia

Auckland led 26-0 at half-time, but Australia back Israel Folau led the hosts' second-half fightback with two tries and Tolu Latu, Bernard Foley and Paddy Ryan also scored for the Waratahs.

Folau broke the longest try-scoring drought of his five-year Super Rugby career with two second-half tries, but the star full-back's first strikes in seven games were not enough for the Waratahs.

The Waratahs finished with a flurry, ultimately claiming a losing bonus point after Ryan's score in the final minute, outscoring the Blues 33-14 in the second half.

Despite lying at the bottom of the powerful New Zealand conference, the Blues extended the Kiwi dominance over Australian opposition to 17-0 in trans-Tasman encounters this season.

Despite a late second-half comeback, the Waratahs succumbed to another loss

"The second half wasn't as sharp as we would have liked and they came out with heaps of energy in the second half and we knew it was coming," Blues skipper James Parsons said.

"We kept it simple in the first half, kept it in the forwards, we did well in the scrums and lineouts to give us a platform to play off and we took the points when we had the opportunities.

"We were really pleased with that. We set ourselves up and we were lucky we did to be honest because we needed those points with the way we played in the second half."

Waratahs skipper Michael Hooper cut a frustrated figure at the end of the contest

The Waratahs, Super Rugby winners three years ago, are four points adrift of the ACT Brumbies in the Australian conference.

"Our discipline was poor in the first half and yet again we showed great fight, but not enough, two different 40-minutes there, it's frustrating," Waratahs skipper Michael Hooper said.