Remarkable turnaround for Matatū against Blues

There were cheers and there were tears.

Matatū has defended its hearts out and secured its place in the Super Rugby Aupiki final, beating the Blues 26-23 in its semi-final this afternoon.

It is a remarkable turnaround for the team representing the South Island after going winless in last season’s inaugural competition.

They say defence wins championships — and that is exactly what Matatū had to do to secure its spot.

Blues had a late opportunity to take the lead and went for the line out.

Veteran front rower Steph Te-Ohaera Fox came through the Blues maul, latched on to the ball, and forced a turnover with three minutes to go.

Minutes later, Lucy Jenkins got over the ball and was never letting it go, forcing the Blues to clean her out for the side and turn it over.

It was a defensive game from Matatū, struggling to get its hands on the ball, but when it did, it made the most of those opportunities.

Blues got off to a flying start through Krysent Cottrell’s early penalties.

They played with some flair, with an exciting back line to put Katelyn Vaha’akolo in the corner for a try, and its forwards muscled up against a solid Matatū pack.

Matatū might have only had three opportunities to attack in the first spell.

The first came in the 11th minute, when second five Grace Brooker drew in the Blues' defence and gave a nice straight ball to slip pocket rocket Kendra Reynolds through the gap to score under the posts.

It was not until the final 10 minutes when Matatū got another opportunity — but it made the Blues pay, scoring twice through winger Chey Robins-Reti before the break.

She scored first through a nice team try, using the entire width of the park, and the other, bang on half time, was similar, with Robins-Reti putting in a nice side-step to finish it off.

Renee Holmes continued her form with the boot and gave Matatū a 19-11 lead.

Matatū had all the ball early in the second, but then it was back to being on defence.

Dangerous Blues fullback Patricia Maliepo shimmied through a gap and scored under the posts.

It meant the Blues trailed by one point and the game became an arm wrestle.

Matatū struggled to get its hands on the ball for the middle passage and were brutal on defence, forcing Blues handling errors.

Amy du Plessis put in some big hits, as did Brooker — a general on defence and attack — and Holmes.

Liana Mikaele-Tu’u broke the solid defence in the 70th minute to push the Blues out to a 23-19 lead.

Finally, Matatū got some ball and Robins-Reti ran in for a hat trick to put the South Island side into the final.