Blues v Brumbies result: Bully boy Blues blitz Brumbies to storm into Super Rugby Pacific final

Unless you are fully loaded, fully equipped, to consistently challenge the menacing Blues forward pack, don’t bother turning up to Eden Park.()

The Blues, as they marched into their second Super Rugby final in three years with consummate ease, delivered another clear illustration of their brutal blueprint to crush the Brumbies 34-20 and prolong Australia’s wretched playoff run in New Zealand.()

One moment in the second half summed up Cotter’s hardline mantra. Replacement halfback Taufa Funaki tried an audacious backwards chip kick that backfired to turnover possession.(

)

The Blues were leading by 14 points but Cotter was unimpressed – letting out a spray from the coaching box. Such adventure was not in the playbook.

The Brumbies, riding a seven-game winning run, arrived with hope of upsetting the odds. Yet it was immediately evident they would suffer the same fate as 18 of their counterparts to lose finals matches on this side of the ditch.( )

That not one Australian team have managed to win a playoff match in New Zealand underlines one of Super Rugby’s glaring issues.

Such concerns are irrelevant for the Blues, though.

Cotter’s Blues won’t win any beauty pageant prizes. No one in Auckland’s long-suffering rugby region will care, though, if this team break their 21-year drought for a fully fledged Super Rugby crown.( )

With an extra day’s rest before next week’s finale the Blues have the benefit of sitting back to watch the Hurricanes and Chiefs take lumps out of each other in Wellington on Saturday to earn the right to join them and contest this year’s title.

A Chiefs upset would allow the Blues to return to Eden Park, where they have won their past 15 matches in a row, next week.( )

Should the Hurricanes ride their compelling campaign to defeat the Chiefs for the third time this year, they will retain home advantage for the decider.

READ MORE....