June 13 (Reuters) - The Wellington Hurricanes delivered a scintillating second-half performance to brush aside the Auckland Blues 57-21 on Saturday to set up a Super Rugby Pacific final against the Waikato Chiefs.
The top-seeded Hurricanes, who will host next week's decider, were heavy favourites coming into the game but a spirited Blues side gave them all they could handle in a bruising first half and were in the hunt trailing 19-14 at the half.
However, the hosts were a different proposition after the break and ran in six more tries, with Kini Naholo's score to bring up the 50-point mark the best of the bunch.
Hurricanes centre Jordie Barrett, who crossed for the opening try, said he was not surprised by how tight the game was in the first half.
"We knew this Blues side were going to come down for a hell of a fight and there's so much quality in this side," he added.
"They haven't had the best of times the last month or so but they were always going to challenge us, so they were right in the fight for a lot of that game."
The Hurricanes' sole Super Rugby title came 10 years ago and Barrett said they were determined to end that drought.
"This particular group have had a lot of hurt, there's a few scars there so we're just massively grateful we've put ourselves in this position to play at home next week against a red-hot Chiefs side," Barrett added. "So it's going to be a big week."
Hurricanes scrumhalf Cam Roigard created the opening for Barrett's try in the third minute, taking a quick tap penalty and gouging through the static Blues defence.
The Hurricanes hammered away at the line before the ball was worked wide for Barrett to go over, though Ruben Love missed the conversion.
The Blues answered back when AJ Lam and Cole Forbes combined before sending Caleb Clarke surging through on the diagonal before he was stopped short of the line. The ball was moved out for Patrick Tuipulotu to crash over and Beauden Barrett converted to put the visitors ahead.
The Blues were then dealt a major blow when backs Lam and Clarke failed Head Injury Assessments (HIA) and were lost for the remainder of the match.
The Hurricanes went back in front when Love kicked for touch from a penalty and Du’Plessis Kirifi drove over from the lineout.
HURRICANES UP THE TEMPO
Despite being heavy underdogs the Blues showed plenty of character and a superb Payton Spencer try brought them level, with Beauden Barrett again converting to make it 14-12.
The Hurricanes got their third try of the half when prop Xavier Numia stayed low to crash through and Love converted to send the hosts in leading 19-14 at the half.
Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw must have had a few choice words for his players at the break as they re-emerged with a ruthlessness and intensity the Blues could not match.
Three quick tries from Roigard, Josh Moorby and Asafo Aumua blew out the lead to 38-14 before the Blues could draw breath.
The hosts scored again in the 65th minute when Ereatara Enari found a gap to scoot over, before a rampaging Naholo finished off a terrific team move for their eighth try of the game.
Blues replacement Eli Oudenryn got one back with a burst of pace to gather and score late on but the Hurricanes put the icing on the cake with Moorby scoring their ninth try of the match in the last minute.
(Reporting by Peter Rutherford; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
