{"id":295201,"date":"2026-02-21T13:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T13:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/295201\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T13:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T13:02:10","slug":"auckland-blues-v-force-super-rugby-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/295201\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland Blues v Force – Super Rugby Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blues<\/p>\n

\nBlues face Western Force in Super Rugby Pacific.
\nPhoto: Liam Swiggs \/ RNZ\n<\/p>\n

First-five Stephen Perofeta converted all six of his team’s tries and scored one himself, as the Blues overhauled Western Force 42-32 at Perth.<\/p>\n

After a controversial loss to the Chiefs in their opener last week, the Auckland-based side took advantage of a big wind at their backs in the second half to overcome a 17-14 deficit, outscoring their rivals 21-3 during the 20 minutes after the break.<\/p>\n

Prop Josh Fusitua and Perofeta touched down in the first 40 minutes, but a try to flanker Carlo Tizzano gave the home side a surprise lead at halfway.<\/p>\n

After the restart, fullback Zarn Sullivan, flanker Torian Barnes and wing Cole Forbes rattled on three tries that gave their team the momentum and a 15-point lead, that provided a buffer to withstand a late Force rally.<\/p>\n

Follow the live progress here:<\/p>\n

Squad<\/p>\n

Blues: 1 Joshua Fusitu’a, 2 Bradley Slater, 3 Marcel Renata, 4 Laghlan McWhannell, 5 Josh Beehre, 6 Anton Segner, 7 Dalton Papali’i (c), 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 9 Finlay Christie, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 11 Caleb Clarke, 12 Pita Ahki, 13 AJ Lam, 14 Cole Forbes, 15 Zarn Sullivan<\/p>\n

Bench: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Mason Tupaea, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Che Clark, 20 Torian Barnes, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Xavi Taele, 23 Codemeru Vai<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blues face Western Force in Super Rugby Pacific. Photo: Liam Swiggs \/ RNZ First-five Stephen Perofeta converted all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-295201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}