All Blacks wing Joe Rokocoko scored two second-half tries as the Auckland Blues beat the New South Wales Waratahs 22-17 in a Super 12 rugby match at Eden Park yesterday.
The defending champions stumbled through the first half and led only 3-0 at halftime but Rokocoko's tries and another to All Black Ben Atiga gave the Blues a 22-7 cushion before a Waratahs revival.
PHOTO: AP
Tries to Matt Burke and Adam Freier and a 73rd-minute penalty to Burke brought the Waratahs to within five points but time ran out before they could turn late pressure into further points.
The Blues, beyond the midpoint of their season, were desperate for a win to revive their chances of reaching the championship semifinals.
Their failure to take a bonus point from the match left them with only 12 points from the seven rounds of matches, still in 10th place overall and at least five points out of the top four.
"The performance today was still far from perfect, there's still plenty to work on but the boys know that," said Blues captain Xavier Rush.
"The fizz is still there, the belief is still there and we have two more games at home which must count.
"None of the teams is running away from us at the moment, there's only a win between second and 10th and the teams which finish strongest in the last five rounds will be the ones that are there at the end."
The first half of Sunday's match was a comedy of errors from both sides.
New South Wales dominated the Blues in lineouts, fielded the stronger scrum and tested their opponents in the loose by committing more forwards to breakdowns.
The Blues attempted to create play without a forward platform and failed miserably. Their efforts at backplay, lacking any forward foundation, ended in disarray and the only points of the half came from a Carlos Spencer penalty in the seventh minute.
All Blacks flyhalf Spencer returned to the Blues starting lineup after being sidelined for four weeks with a broken jaw. He was expected to spark the Blues Sunday but he had a mixed performance.
Spencer kicked three of five shots at goal, struggled to find combination with his backline and spent 10 minutes in the sinbin for a shoulder charge on Wallaby lock Justin Harrison.
It was Rokocoko, who was also returning from injury, who gave the Blues impetus after halftime. He scored his first try in the 44th minute, immediately after Burke had scored to give New South Wales a 7-3 lead, beating the cover defense to the left-hand corner.
Rokocoko's second try in the 55th minute and after a well-worked backline move gave Auckland a 15-7 advantage. Atiga made the lead more comfortable with his first Super 12 try after 62 minutes.
Freier had been on the field only two minutes as a replacement when he bullocked over the Auckland line for the Waratahs' second try. Burke's conversion and his late penalty, his second and third goals from five attempts, closed the gap to five points but time ran out before the Waratahs could score again.
Seventh-round results left the ACT Brumbies in first place with 25 points, six ahead of three teams with 19 points each -- Canterbury, the Stormers and the Sharks.
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