Blues do damage either side of halftime

Stephen Perofeta thought about kicking it. He probably should have.

The hooter had sounded. He was 5m behind his own goal line.

But the Blues first five spotted a gap and ran and ran and ran to help set up a try for All Blacks winger Mark Tele’a right on halftime in Melbourne last night.

It pretty much sank the Highlanders, who extended their winless streak against New Zealand teams to 17 games following their 37-29 loss to the Blues.

The Aucklanders won the exchanges up front and scored 21 unanswered points in a telling stint either side of halftime.

Powerhouse No 8 Hoskins Sotutu scored three tries in an eye-catching performance.

Highlanders winger Timoci Tavatavanawai charges upfield with No 8 Hugh Renton in support during their Super Rugby Pacific clash against the Blues in Melbourne last night. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The Highlanders took all of 80 seconds to opening the scoring. They got an early scrum inside the 22 thanks to a fumble by Sotutu.

Sam Gilbert hit the ball up. Folau Fakatava fired a pass to the short side. Sean Withy cut inside and scored.

Gilbert missed the conversion, though. And the Highlanders let the ball bounce from the restart and the Blues swung on to attack.

Sotutu made amends. The Blues rumbled forward and he muscled over for his first.

Rhys Patchell got a stunning offload to Jona Nareki who found fullback Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens and he ran an angled line to the corner.

The game took a breather while Perofeta kicked a penalty.

The Highlanders had to lean on their defence heavily, but when they got another opportunity on attack they pounced.

Fakatava stabbed through a kick and Patchell ran through and flopped on it.

Gilbert hit the upright with the conversion.

Hoskins Sotutu scores one of his three tries for the Blues against the Highlanders in Melbourne last night. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The Blues came up with a big finish to the half when halfback Taufa Funaki slipped through from a ruck close to the line three minutes out from the break.

The Highlanders appeared poised to strike back. All Black prop Ethan de Groot barged forward but lost the ball a few metres from the line.

Perofeta shaped to kick it out, but elected to run it out and burst through a hole.

He offloaded to Mark Tele’a on the halfway line. The move petered out but Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens picked up a yellow card.

The Blues kicked the penalty to the corner, bowled forward and Tele’a crashed over to give his side a 22-15 lead with 40 minutes remaining.

Tele’a helped set up the next. He collected an up and under. The Blues poured forward and Sotutu dived over three minutes into the second spell.

It was a devastating six or seven-minute stretch for the Highlanders in which they went from leading 15-8 to losing 29-15.

Part winger, part tank, Timoci Tavatavanawai charged over with 20 minutes remaining. But any thought of comeback evaporated when Sotutu went over for his hat-trick.

The Highlanders nabbed a late consolation. New cap Ajay Faleafaga dotted down.