Highlanders vs Blues Predictions & Tips - Blues to do the business in Dunedin

The Highlanders’ struggles on home soil continued last week when they went down to the Chiefs. With seven defeats in their last nine at home, I’m tipping the Blues to win by more than five points.

The Highlanders have won seven of their last 12 matches against the Blues.

The Blues have, however, won the last three encounters including their meeting earlier this season. The match ended 39-17 in Auckland.

The Highlanders are fourth on the Super Rugby Aotearoa table after six matches. With only two victories, the Highlanders have blown hot and cold the entire season.

It is the Highlanders home form that is of grave concern. They have lost seven of their last nine matches on home soil including last weekend’s 26-23 defeat to the Chiefs.

Prior to that, the Highlanders produced an incredible performance to beat the Crusaders 33-12 in Christchurch. Tony Brown's side lost their preceding match 30-19 at home to the Hurricanes.

The Otago-based outfit have been impressive with ball in hand, scoring 144 points which is the second most in the competition. Defensively they are however letting it slip.

The Highlanders have made a few changes, mostly among the forwards. The only change in the backline sees the talented Josh Ioane start at fullback ahead of Connor Garden-Bachop.

Among the forwards, Billy Harmon, Josh Dickson, Siate Toklahi and Aden Johnstone all come in to start.

The Blues find themselves second in Super Rugby Aotearoa, two points clear of the Chiefs in third. Victory this weekend over the Highlanders will go a long way to securing a place in the final.

After beginning the season with two victories, the Blues had a blip in form as they lost their next two. Those defeats were against the Crusaders (43-27) and against the Chiefs (15-12).

In their last match, the Auckland-based outfit bounced back to win 27-17 at home against the Hurricanes.

After enjoying a bye last weekend the Blues have had two weeks to recover from injuries they may have had. They have made just one change to the starting lineup which sees Sam Nock dropped at scrumhalf in favour of Jonathan Ruru.