Jonah Lowe scored a brace of tries as the Hurricanes clinched a hard-fought 38-33 win over the Blues in a Super Rugby pre-season match in Auckland on Saturday.
The Hurricanes outscored the Blues six tries to five, with Canes prop Chris Eves going over for the decisive five-pointer late in the game.
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Importantly for the Hurricanes, Nehe Milner-Skudder completed a successful return from injury as he enjoyed 50 minutes of action at fullback, with both coaches using the encounter to provide extended squads with valuable game time.
Although the Blues led 21-12 at half-time, and 26-12 soon after the resumption, the Canes upped the ante in the third quarter as Lowe, Ngani Laumape and Jeff To'omaga-Allen all scored in the space of less than 10 minutes.
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The hosts did manage to briefly move back into the lead when centre Pasqualle Dunn scored soon after, but Eves then struck to hand victory to the 2016 Super Rugby champs.
