Cortez Ratima magic gets Chiefs up over Blues in Super Rugby Pacific opener

Saturday, 14 February 2026

Chiefs lock Tupou Vaa’i celebrates his try against the Blues at Eden Park on Saturday night.

At Eden Park, Auckland: Chiefs 19 (Tupou Vaa’i try 32min, Samisoni Taukei’aho try 63min, Cortez Ratima try 76min; Josh Jacomb 2 cons), Blues 15 (Zarn Sullivan try 35min, Dalton Papali’i try 53min; Sullivan pen, con), HT: 5-5.

Yellow cards: Kaylum Boshier (Chiefs) 38min; Sam Nock (Blues) 78min.

Deja-vu. For the second straight year the Chiefs have come to Eden Park on Super Rugby Pacific opening night and sat the Blues on their backsides.

This time, in a Saturday night Battle of the Bombays that drew a decent turnout at the big stadium, they had supersubs Samipeni Finau and Cortez Ratima to thank as the All Blacks duo worked some late-game magic to put the replacement halfback away for the match-winning try in the 76th minute.

Prior to that the Blues had worked their way into a 15-12 lead in a tight encounter and had looked in a good position to close this one out.

But consecutive penalties, on the back of a turnover on the carry, piggy-backed the Chiefs out of their own half as the match went deep. The perennial title contenders did not need a second invitation, and with four minutes remaining Finau and Ratima did their thing, the big loosie running on to a nice pass from Tupou Vaa’i and slipping a peach of an offload to Ratima for a dazzling finish.

The Blues, even with replacement halfback Sam Nock in the bin, had a sniff in the closing minutes, but a lineout misfire cost them dearly in their final roll of the dice.

Quinn Tupaea gets his offload away in the tackle of the Blues’ Caleb Clarke on Saturday night.

The Chiefs got strong shifts out of the powerhouse Samisoni Taukei’aho, the classy Vaa’i and hardworking Luke Jacobson up front, while Quinn Tupaea was the standout in a backline that battled away right to the end on a warm and user-friendly night. Etene Nanai-Seturo also ran for 101 metres from fullback, while there was plenty to like about the visitors’ impact off the bench, led by Finau and Ratima.

Bradley Slater, busy and effective against his old team, the hard-charging Josh Beehre, debutant Torian Barnes and indefatigable skipper Dalton Papali’i were the pick of the home forwards, while big tighthead Ofa Tu’ungafasi also got through 49 quality minutes that he would have enjoyed after sitting out most of last year.

In the backs Stephen Perofeta showed some nice touches at No 10, Pita Ahki was a handful in midfield on his return from France, Zarn Sullivan was a constant danger at the back and the thigh-pumping Caleb Clarke carved up an impressive 80 metres in the wider channels.

Blues fullback Zarn Sullivan carves through the Chiefs defence for a first-half score at Eden Park.

The contest, as they tend to at this stage of the season, lacked rhythm and flow, but not competitiveness and commitment. The fluency will come with more time in the saddle, but a second straight Kiwi derby with less that a score in it indicated margins are going to be tight this year.

The Blues, who lost last year’s opener against the Chiefs 25-14, went on to drop five of their first six matches in ‘25. With the Force and Brumbies up next on the road, they will be anxious to turn things round sooner rather than later.

The first 40, in this 30th year of Super Rugby, produced somewhat of a throwback, old-fashioned arm-wrestle that finished locked at 5-5, with a try apiece, in a half where the skill and execution mostly failed to match the endeavour from both sides.

If anything, the Blues probably went into the sheds rueful they weren’t able to make more of a half where they had 57% possession, gained over 100 more metres on the carry and edged defenders beaten (10-7) and clean breaks (6-1).

Never mind. Both teams were probably guilty of failing to nail key passes when they were most required, and as a result a decent opening-night crowd had little in the way of scores to enthuse over.

All Black lock Vaa’i broke the 0-0 deadlock in the 32nd minute, shortly after a quality 50-22 from Josh Jacomb served up the opening. Tupaea hit it up full noise and Vaa’i showed nice athleticism to leap high over the defence on the line for the finish.

The lead didn’t last long. Within three minutes the Blues surged upfield on a strong carry from Clarke and a short ball from Ahki put fleet-footed fullback Sullivan away on a nice support line close to the ruck. Both Perofeta and Jacomb missed their two shots at goal for the spell.

The second spell stayed tight throughout.

The Blues hit the lead, 12-5, after a dozen minutes when Papali’i showed nice strength to burrow over on the one-off line, though Taukei’aho’s own power finish 10 minutes later put the contest back on terms.

Sullivan’s penalty made it 15-12 inside the final quarter of an hour, and from then it was all about who would make the big play when it mattered. That honour went to Ratima, with some help from his mate Finau.

The Chiefs, on a night when they were absent four key All Blacks, will be ecstatic to open with a victory after spending large parts of the night on the back foot. Once again they shape as a serious contender.