Watch every second of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\nThe big moment in the match came in the 16th minute when Augustine Pulu was red-carded for a high tackle.<\/p>\n
Trailing 5-0, Moana Pasifika looked to spark their attack as Semisi Tupou Ta\u2019eiloa and Patrick Pellegrini both broke through, before the latter turned it over.<\/p>\n
As Blues scrum half Sam Nock tried his own counter, Pulu collected him in the head, with the initial yellow card upgraded as Nock, who scored the opener, failed his HIA.<\/p>\n
His replacement, Taufa Funaki, had an immediate impact, setting up AJ Lam with a grubber kick.<\/p>\n
The visitors rallied after Pulu\u2019s fate was confirmed, with Millis Sanerivi getting them on the board in the 26th minute.<\/p>\n
Ofa Tu\u2019ungafasi gave the Blues an eight-point lead at the break, but Moana Pasifika had all the running late in the half after two tries were denied due to offside and obstruction, respectively.<\/p>\n
A trademark Vern Cotter spray at half-time fired up the Blues as their forwards went to work in the second half.<\/p>\n
Marcel Renata and Sam Darry both crossed early in the half to give the hosts a commanding advantage.<\/p>\n
Tries to Codemuru Vai and Mason Tupara sealed the blow out win as the Blues jumped to second on the ladder.<\/p>\n
They sit on 15 points, sharing top spot with the Hurricanes and ACT Brumbies, as they face a trip to Sydney to face the NSW Waratahs.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Moana Pasifika remain vaulted to the bottom of the ladder, facing the difficult challenge of hosting the Crusaders next weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Blues have claimed bragging rights with a 43-7 win over Moana Pasifika at Eden Park. Vern Cotter\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,3925,216832,760,85,48013],"class_list":["post-541423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blues","tag-moana-pasifika","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541423","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=541423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}