Blues edge Hurricanes to go top after Eden Park thriller

:The Auckland Blues edged the Wellington Hurricanes 31-27 in a Super Rugby Pacific contest of rare intensity on Saturday to move above their rivals to the top of the standings with three rounds of the regular season remaining.

The result was not decided until well after the hooter had sounded when the Blues dramatically secured a turnover as the Hurricanes pounded away at their line in search of a first win at Eden Park since 2019.

With every breakdown fiercely contested, there was little free-flowing rugby for the bumper crowd to enjoy but none of the other 10 teams in the competition will relish taking on either side in next month's championship playoffs.

"These are the games you want to be a part of, pretty tough and a bit of a seesaw battle right down to the wire," said Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu.

The Blues head the table with 45 points, two more than the Hurricanes with ACT Brumbies (39 points) and Waikato Chiefs (38) making up the top four in search of a home quarter-final.

The Blues looked to brute force all over the park and were rewarded with tries from Bryce Heem, Cole Forbes, Mark Telea and Angus Ta'avao.

The Hurricanes also scored four tries and ultimately it was the two conversions from wide out that flyhalf Brett Cameron missed that made the difference.

"Rugby is a pretty cruel game, hey?" said skipper Brad Shields.

"We chucked everything in there and to come up a bit short is pretty disappointing, but we've got another few games to go before the end of the season."

The Blues exploded out of the blocks and centre Heem crossed in the fourth minute but the Hurricanes responded with a similar close-range effort from Shields.

Blues flanker Akira Ioane was sent to the sin bin for a high clearout after half an