Blues smash Reds
February 14, 2002

Another quartet of tries from Fijian winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca have inspired the Auckland Blues to a 60-26 thrashing of the Queensland Reds.

Coming off four tries against New South Wales last weekend as the Blues smashed NSW 40-0, Caucaunibuca came off the bench in the second half in the match at Albany Stadium in North Harbour.

The Reds led 10-7 early in the match, but fell behind by ten points at half-time and were completely overrun in the second half as Auckland scored nine tries to four.

While Caucaunibuca dominated on his wing, rugby league recruit Wendell Sailor was restricted on the other side of the field, playing all 80 minutes but having little impact on the match.

"He (Sailor) did well, he looked more at home than in the previous game," fellow Queensland winger Ben Tune said. "He was very strong on the ball, but he just needs games and he will get better with every game."

Early in the match Sailor was involved in the first try scored by Tune, but the Blues responded with a couple of tries of their own from rolling mauls before a runaway try to winger Mils Muliaina took Auckland to a 22-12 halftime lead.

With Caucaunibuca coming on at half-time, the Blues added the first 26 points of the second half to stretch their advantage to 48-12, with the home side making the most of prop Nick Stiles' time in the sin bin for vigorous rucking.

Queensland scored a pair of consolation tries through Chris Latham and substitute halfback Jacob Rauluni to narrow the deficit to 22 points, but Auckland finished the match off in style.

"There's plenty of work we need to do. There's areas we need to improve, but I suspect it won't look as bad as the scoreline indicated," Queensland coach Mark McBain said. "The main thing is we've got to play a bit smarter and have more respect for the ball."

In an earlier game, former Wallaby winger Damian Smith made an encouraging comeback from injury for a Queensland B team which lost 33-26 to an Auckland Blues development squad.

The B team scored four tries to three with Smith playing the entire match in his first run since breaking a leg in a Super 12 match against the Stormers 10 months ago.

Scoreboard:

Auckland Blues 60 (R Caucaunibuca 4, R Cribb, R Gear, M Muliaina, M Parkinson, S McFarland tries. C Spencer 6 goals pen goal) bt Queensland Reds 26 (M Connors, J Rauluni, B Tune, C Latham tries. A Scotney 2, E Flatley goals).

Auckland Blues Development Squad 33 (D Fletcher 2, S Tonga'uiha tries. N Evans 3 goals, 4 pen goals) bt Queensland B 26 (P Warwick, R Nalatu, M Tabrett, S Cordingley tries. A Scotney 2, P Warwick goals).

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