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Watch: Blues star Finlay Christie scores contender for try of the season against Brumbies
By Sam Smith
Blues halfback Finlay Christie has scored a contender for try of the season after blitzing the Brumbies defence in a spectacular solo effort during their Super Rugby Trans-Tasman clash in Auckland on Saturday.
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Shortly after Otere Black slotted a penalty to draw the Blues level with the Brumbies, the hosts were searching for a five-pointer to edge them into the lead at the break.
After a scrappy take by Hoskins Sotutu from the re-start, the Blues looked to their star man Rieko Ioane to ignite something from the middle of the park.
Taking the ball on his own 10 metre mark, the All Blacks midfielder straightened the line of attack to draw in two Brumbies defenders on the halfway line.
The first of those two defenders, Rob Valetini, misread Ioane’s fleeting run, while the second, Nic White, was palmed off by the 24-year-old who cantered into enemy territory with ease.
Narrowing in on Noah Lolesio past the Brumbies’ 10 metre mark, Ioane opted to feed the ball to Christie, who was supporting on his inside shoulder, but there was still plenty of work for the red-headed halfback to do to reach the tryline.
He made it look easy, though, as he rounded Brumbies fullback Tom Banks to scamper into the opposition’s 22.
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It was there were he was swarmed by Solomone Kata, Nick Frost and Valetini, but Christie didn’t panic as he assessed the situation while chewing up metres through the middle of the park.
Frost, the towering lock, looked to have Christie covered in a tackle from behind, but the Scotland-born scrumhalf slipped out of the second rower’s tackle attempt as he shifted the point of attack toward Valetini.
That caught the Wallabies loose forward flat-footed, and by the time he regathered his footing, Christie had already swerved the other way to catch Kata off-balance.
The former NRL star reached out for a half-baked tackle attempt, but it was never going to stop the rampant Christie, who was eventually brought to the ground by Darcy Swain, but not after the ball had been planted over the tryline near the goal posts.
Fin Christie is ELECTRIC ?? ????
ADVERTISEMENT?: @skysportnz#BluesAllDay #WeAreTheBlues #BLUvBRU pic.twitter.com/oG9oT9LtJt
— The Blues (@BluesRugbyTeam) May 29, 2021
All in all, Christie ran for 35 metres and beat five defenders to the tryline, but, more importantly, he handed the Blues a lead which they took with them into the sheds.
