Sensational Blues whip Rebels in emphatic Eden Park win

The Blues were dominant after a shaky start as they comfortably beat the Rebels 71-28 in a Super Rugby Pacific encounter at Eden Park on Friday.

The Rebels came into the match on a high after a win over the Pasifika last time out but were sent crashing back down to earth.

The table-topping Blues secured their place at the summit of the Super Rugby standings with their 10th win in a row in the competition as they look increasingly unstoppable this year.

With all that being said, at the start of the match, it was a completely different story as Australians could not have dreamt up a more perfect start.

Pouncing on an early botched lineout, the Rebels charged over the line with Pone Fa'amausili crashing over for the game's first try less than two minutes into the game.

Then, just three minutes later, the Blues tried another quick lineout that also went awry. Josh Canham was able to intercept the ball and race away unopposed for another surprise try.

Reece Hodge hit both conversions to put the Rebels into a surprise 0-14 lead early on.

It didn't last long, though, as the Blues hit back through a brace of tries by Akira Ioane in the eighth and 13th minutes. A pair of conversions from Stephen Perofeta restored parity.

The New Zealanders then took the game away from the Rebels in a dominant display of rugby in the second part of the first half.

They took a 14-point lead as Ofa Tu'ungafasi combined with Akira Ioane to score in the 22nd minute before Mark Telea cut inside James Tucker to break into space and score.

Two more conversions from Perofeta made it 28-14.

The Blues scored three more tries before the halftime break with Hoskins Sotutu going over untouched in the 31st minute, followed by Rieko Ioane scoring his 43rd in the 36th