Oct 30, 2025
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In addition to Eden Park, Blues home matches are occasionally held at North Harbour Stadium, home of the North Harbour Rugby Union, and Okara Park, home of the Northland Rugby Union. During the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour, the Blues pulled off a shock win over the British and Irish Lions 22-26 at Eden Park. A close first round win over the Highlanders by 33-31 was followed by successive losses to the Crusaders (28-13) and Hurricanes (19-23). A 25-25 draw with the Reds in Round 4 was followed by a 24-16 win over the Jaguares in Round 6 (Round 5 being a bye). A reshuffle resulted in Umaga being demoted to an assistant coaching role, and the appointment of former All Black, Crusaders assistant and Tasman Mako head coach Leon MacDonald as new Blues coach the following season. The end of the season was marked by the resignation of coach Sir John Kirwan, who had been with the team for the last three years winning just 17 out of 58 games. Their next game against the Rebels was their final away game of the season, they lost 42-22, ending the season with no away wins, having only won two away games in the last three years.
The up and down nature of their season was reflected in the margins of both their biggest win – 56-18 in Round 1 over the Rebels – and their heaviest defeat – 48-21 to the Sunwolves in the final round in Tokyo. A week later the Blues lost to the Chiefs by 23-29, but bounced back with wins over the Sharks (23-18), Rebels (36-30) and Kings (34-18). A 43-5 loss to eventual finalists the Lions was followed by a tight 17-13 win over the Force. 2018 would see the Blues again finish last in their conference, with a poor record of only four wins vs 12 losses in a miserable season. Another tight game resulted in a 21-26 loss to the Crusaders, while a yet another loss followed against the Hurricanes 27-37. Dominant wins against the Brumbies (40-15) and Waratahs (34-28) showed that the Blues could still be highly competitive, however their last-place conference finish left them outside the qualification pool for the season’s semi-finals, with rival New Zealand franchise the Hurricanes emerging the eventual champions. MacDonald’s first year in charge saw little in the way of definite improvements to the Blues win-loss record, with only 5 wins from 17 games giving them their sixth consecutive last-place finish in the New Zealand conference.
The Blues endured yet another disappointing year in 2016, although there were some improvements. Balotelli dedicated his goal to former Italy teammate Davide Astori, who died earlier in the year. All Black prop Karl Tu’inukuafe and former All Black Ma’a Nonu were recruited from the Chiefs and Toulon, respectively. Blues reserve first-five Ihaia West and All Black centre Sonny Bill Williams also impressed during the match, both scoring tries and West adding a penalty and conversion to a remarkable result against the tourists. Rookie Blues winger Reiko Ioane distinguished himself during the match, scoring a try and notably outpacing Lions and England winger Elliot Daly. The Blues won 4 of their 8 games, finishing the 2021 season in 3rd place, in the 6 team NZ based competition. Stoke City won 2-0 on aggregate. Eventually, the two twins took revenge on Amulius before falling out themselves – Romulus killed Remus and was thus made king of a new city named in his honour, Rome.