The Blues Samoan midfielder TJ Faiane was one of the Samoan Islands players that were in top form for the Auckland Blues in the first round of the Super Rugby Aotearoa.
The 24-year-old NZ rugby union player took full advantage of possession and snuck his way through soft Hurricanes defence to put his team back in front and leading at halftime by 14-13.
Another Samoan All Black, Patrick Tuipulotu who is the skipper of the Auckland Blues, led the team into the Hurricanes territory after breaking tackles and cleaning out the Canes at the breakdowns.
Substitute open side flanker Dalton Papali’i injected himself into the game 10 minutes before halftime by forcing a handful of turnovers on defence.
He was rewarded for his good works with a try by catching a TJ Faiane perfectly weighted grubber kick down the left hand side of the field.
The Blues defence were just too good, suffocating the Hurricanes and starving them of any go-foward ball.
With Auckland and Wellington rugby unions dominated by Samoan players over the years, the mass fan base of Samoans for both teams once again took to social media to jab jovial fun comments to their cousins, siblings and friends who support the ‘other’ side.
The Auckland Blues will face the Highlanders in their second game, next week Saturday.