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Regional | Auckland Blues

Highlights: Canes show off comeback magic to beat Reds; Blues top table with defeat of Fijian Drua

Credit / Sky Sports- Super Rugby

The Blues and Hurricanes both clocked up wins across the Tasman on Saturday night, with Auckland struggling past the Fijian Drua and Wellington lighting up Melbourne with a firecracker of a comeback victory over the Queensland Reds.

The Blues top the Super Rugby Pacific table from the Brumbies after last night's 35-18 win in a historic matchup with competition newcomers the Fijian Drua at Melbourne's AAMI Park.

Rising to the occasion, the Drua with only one win from their previous seven games made a less than impressive Auckland side work hard for their eighth victory of the competition. The Blues led the Drua 21-10 at halftime, after making nine changes from the side that last week beat the Crusaders in Christchurch.

In the second game of the evening, the Canes stormed back from 17-0 down after half an hour to score 30 unanswered points for a 30-17 victory over the Reds, which keeps them in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Reds, who came into the game with a 7-1 record, led the Hurricanes 17-14 at halftime.

Blues 35 (AJ Lam 2, Sam Darry, Marcel Renata, Rieko Ioane tries; Beauden Barrett 5 cons)
Drua 18 (Mesulame Dolokoto, Onisi Ratave tries; Simione Kuruvoli con, 2 pens)
HT: 21-10

Hurricanes 30 (Bailyn Sullivan 2, Tyrel Lomax 2 tries; Jordie Barrett 2 cons, 2 pens)
Reds 17 (Hamish Stewart, Fraser McReight tries; Lawson Creighton 2 cons, pen)
HT: 14-17

Kelvin McDonald
Kelvin McDonald

Kelvin McDonald has been part of our Whakaata Māori newsroom since 2007. Formerly a researcher for Native Affairs, Kelvin has since moved across to our Online News Team where his new role as Digital Video Editor utilises his years of experience and skills in research, editing and reporting.