Wulf inspires Blues win

Rudi Wulf grabbed a brace of tries in the second half as the Blues secured a 30-20 bonus-point victory over the Chiefs.

The wing created a score for full-back Paul Williams in the opening half before touching down himself on the hour mark and adding a second late on.

Benson Stanley and Alby Mathewson ran in the Blues' other tries as the Auckland-based team ended their season with a win at Eden Park.

The Chiefs, who opted to field a back line of up-and-comers with neither side in contention for a semi-final spot, got their tries through Liam Messam and Save Tokula, with young stand-off Trent Renata kicking the rest of their points.

Although there was nothing riding on the result, potential All Black and New Zealand Maori spots were potentially up for grabs for the two teams in their last Super 14 match, ahead of the competition's expansion next season.

Scrum-half Brendon Leonard impressed as his defence early in the match meant the contest remained scoreless for the opening 25 minutes.

First try

But it was a rare missed tackle by Leonard on Wulf that set up the opening try, with the left wing then fending off Chiefs full-back Tim Nanai-Williams before the ball was spun out wide for Williams to go over in the corner.

Renata kicked a penalty to reduce the advantage and shortly after the Chiefs were down to 14 men after Colin Bourke was adjudged to have deliberately played the ball on the ground and was sin-binned.

It proved to be a costly call for the visitors as the Blues capitalised with Stanley going over for their second try.

A Renata penalty kept the visitors in the hunt and more great cover defence from Leonard denied the Blues their third try after the half-time break.

But the score eventually came a few minutes later as number eight Viliami Ma'afu found Mathewson from a five-metre scrum and the scrum-half dived over the try-line.

A Stephen Brett penalty stretched their lead to 14 points while Chiefs coach Ian Foster turned to his bench and was duly rewarded as a number of replacements were involved in the build-up to Messam's try.

The Blues provided an instant response as Wulf grabbed his second score to kill the game off before Tokula got a late consolation.