Blues squeak through intense Brumbies semi to set up final date with Crusaders

The Blues survived a late scare to beat the Brumbies 20-12 at Eden Park to secure their place in the final of Super Rugby Pacific.

The Brumbies were certainly up against it in their semi-final against the Blues, a team that has lost just once in Super Rugby since the start of 2021.

However, the Australians pushed their more favoured opponents all the way to the wire only to fall just short in the end.

The men from Canberra got off to a dream start when Irae Simone busted through the challenge of Stephen Perofeta to race away and score.

Noah Lolesio's conversion attempt was successful.

Perofeta made up for his poor tackle when he slotted a couple of penalties to bring the Blues back to within a point.

He was completely forgiven in the 23rd minute when he set up Hoskins Sotutu, who swivelled away from Lolesio's weak tackle to score the Blues' first try.

Perofeta added the extras and the Blues held a 13-7 lead.

The men from New Zealand moved further into the driving seat when Mark Telea finished off a stunning attacking move begun by AJ Lam and, you guessed it, Perofeta in the 34th minute.

Another good kick from the flyhalf gave them a decent 20-7 lead at the break.

The second half was a different story though and things took a turn for the Blues when Kurt Eklund was shown a yellow card for a tip tackle.

The Brumbies took full advantage of their numerical superiority and scored in the 59th minute with Lachlan Lonergan finishing off a devastating driving maul.

Lolesio could not hit the conversion, something that would come back to haunt them badly, and things settled down a bit as both teams returned to a full complement of players.

That changed again in the 75th minute when Adrian Choat was shown yellow for a high tackle, giving the