Mark Telea’s monster performance highlights runaway Blues victory over Highlanders

ANALYSIS: It’s early for major All Blacks statements, but how about Mark Telea’s monster game for the Blues as they opened their Super Rugby Pacific account with a record-breaking 60-20 victory over the Highlanders in Dunedin?

The Blues right wing put in a sensational 80-minute shift for last years runnersup, and it’s easy to imagine that Ian Foster wast scribbling furiously in his notebook as he watched Telea run in two tries, gallop for a mammoth 221 metres on 12 carries, beat 13 defenders, make three clean breaks and throw in an offload and try assist for good measure.

Telea was simply superb on a night when that lethal Blues backline flexed their muscles under the roof of Forsyth Barr Stadium. Beauden Barrett got through 80 mostly quality minutes in his first hitout of the year and ran the show with his usual class, Rieko Ioane was excellent (with two tries and 71 metres of his own), Caleb Clarke looked handy out on the left and Finlay Christie’s workrate was off the charts in a busy evening for running footy.

But their efforts paled in comparison with Telea’s who emerged late last year as a No 14 option for the All Blacks, and must now be, if not the man to beat for the spot, at the very least an eminently viable alternative to Will Jordan.

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Who knows what’s happening with Jordan and his migraines, and maybe the Crusaders flyer even emerges as a prospect at fullback, where’s he’s very handy, rather than right wing. Regardless, if Foster is looking for depth on the right wing, in Telea he appears to have not just a class act, but a man whose game is improving rapidly.

On the whole it was an impressive Blues performance as they ran in eight tries to two and punished the Highlanders for a succession of errors. The Crusaders, in last year’s final, showed how you beat Leon MacDonald’s side. You squeeze them up front and deny them momentum and front-forward ball.

The Highlanders, in this 2023 opener at Forsyth Barr, showed exactly how not to play them – a nice 10-minute spell at the end of the first half apart. They were too messy, too muddled and too generous to apply the necessary pressure to knock them off stride.

After the Chiefs’ statement performance on Friday night with their epic victory over the Crusaders on their home deck, this was, if not quite as impressive, certainly a commanding response from the Blues. Yes, they may have slipped at the final hurdle last year, but on this performance, they are going to be there or thereabouts again in ‘23.

Truth be told MacDonald’s men do not have a lot to fix after last year’s grand final implosion provided a bleak finish to an otherwise exhilarating Super Rugby Pacific season.

You don’t rattle off a 15-game win streak in a competition as high quality as this without getting a heck of a lot right. Granted, you don’t cough up 10 lineout throws in a final either if you’re serious about dethroning the mighty Crusaders. That’s a lesson that will fuel them for the entire season.

But this effort indicates they’re ready to take up where they left off for the majority of last season. Hoskins Sotutu put in a big shift up front, Dalton Papalii too and though there might be a close look at a scrum that had its issues against that powerhouse Highlanders front row, the forwards on the whole provided the platform required. They look better for Patrick Tuipulotu’s steely presence too.

The Highlanders had some bright moments. Folau Fakatava was industrious and looks in good shape after the knee injury, Shannon Frizell put in some strong runs and Billy Harmon shapes as a skipper his team will be inspired by. Connor Garden-Bachop, Josh Timu and Thomas Umaga-Jensen are promising types, too, who will get better and better.

It was hard to know whether to be impressed or depressed about the Blues’ first 40 minutes. They played some rollicking rugby to charge to a 31-6 lead in less than half an hour, and were predatory, powerful and punishing as they seized on Highlanders errors, executed nicely from long range and looked in another league to their hosts.

Telea was the star with 75 first-half metres on a half-dozen carries, but Barrett’s playmaking and vision, Rieko Ioane’s smarts and athleticism, Clarke’s power and Sotutu’s strong carrying were all notable.

But then they went badly off the boil over the last 10 minutes, as the Highlanders put them under sustained pressure and came roaring back into the contest. Two yellow cards late in the spell did not help the visitors’ cause either. From 25 up and cruising, the Blues went into the sheds with a 31-20 lead that was somewhat less commanding.

Never mind. Normal service resumed over the run home as the Blues continued to strike regularly (Telea and Ioane completed their braces, and Marcel Renata and Dalton Papalii got on the scoreboard) and the Highlanders were thrust into batten-down-the-hatches mode.

A good night for the Blues. A great one for their right wing.