{"id":291831,"date":"2025-11-18T04:31:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T04:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/291831\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T04:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T04:31:08","slug":"blues-confirm-opening-two-pre-season-fixtures-starting-in-late-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/291831\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues confirm opening two pre-season fixtures starting in late January"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/blues\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Blues<\/a> have today announced their first pre-season games ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/super-rugby\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season for 2026, confirming they will play the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/hurricanes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hurricanes<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/crusaders\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crusaders<\/a> at home in late January and early February.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues and the Crusaders met three times during the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season, and once in pre-season where the Blues came out on top, 35-19, in Kirwee.<\/p>\n<p>The first of the games in 2026 will be against the Hurricanes at Sacred Heart College on January 30, but details of attendance for the public are still yet to be announced.<\/p>\n<p>Vern Cotter\u2019s side will play against Clark Laidlaw\u2019s Hurricanes at the Glendowie school at 1:30pm, with the next fixture being a week later on Waitangi Day.<\/p>\n<p>Onewa Domain in Takapuna will play host to the game against the Crusaders on February 6 (Waitangi Day), where the old rivals will meet for the first time in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Despite details not being released for the first one at Sacred Heart College, fans can purchase tickets for the game against the Crusaders on the Blues flicket website, where prices range between $5 and $15.<\/p>\n<p>Fans will be allowed to get autographs and photos after the 3pm match, withTakapuna Rugby Football Club Manager Sandra Southworth saying that the club is excited to have two Super Rugby Pacific franchises on show for their members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe always have an amazing turnout when the Blues play at our ground and we can\u2019t wait to do it again,\u201d she said on a Blues statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnewa\u00a0Domain is the perfect place to watch footy up close\u00a0\u2013\u00a0you can feel the\u00a0impact, hear the calls, and\u00a0share in\u00a0the\u00a0energy\u00a0and vibe.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0going to be a fantastic Waitangi Day for\u00a0Harbour\u00a0rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>2026 Blues Pre-Season Fixtures<\/p>\n<p>Friday 30 January<br \/>Blues vs Hurricanes<br \/>Sacred Heart College<br \/>Kick-off at\u00a01:30pm<br \/>Details on public attendance are still being\u00a0finalised.<\/p>\n<p>Friday 6 February (Waitangi Day)<br \/>Blues vs Crusaders<br \/>Takapuna Rugby Club,\u00a0Onewa\u00a0Domain<br \/>Kick-off at\u00a03pm, gates\u00a0open 2pm<br \/>Tickets\u00a0available now\u00a0at <a href=\"https:\/\/blues.flicket.co.nz\/events\/c4ae0163-39f5-4e00-bf82-30b4c37f37e5?tc=website-story\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">blues.flicket.co.nz<\/a><br \/>Adults $15, Kids\u00a0(Under\u00a014) $5,\u00a0Free entry for children 4yrs and under.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Blues have today announced their first pre-season games ahead of the Super Rugby Pacific season for 2026,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-291831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}