The Western Force's quest for a maiden finals berth seems forlorn after just two rounds of the Super Rugby Pacific season.
Another mighty effort from freakish flanker Carlo Tizzano was not enough to stop the Force from suffering a 42-32 to the Blues in a see-sawing nine-try affair in Perth on Saturday.
After collapsing in the searing heat against the Brumbies last Saturday, the Force relinquished a three-point halftime lead to suffer a second-straight home defeat and slump to the bottom of the ladder.
The victory extended the Blues' winning streak over the Force to 14 matches and consigned Simon Cron's Perth side to a sorry eighth successive Super Rugby Pacific defeat stretching back to round eight last year.
The Force had snatched an unlikely 17-14 halftime lead when Tizzano - the competition's top try scorer last season - forced his way over after the siren had sounded.
Despite prop Harry Johnson-Holmes barging over for an 11th-minute try and three goals from the flawless boot of flyhalf Ben Donaldson, the Force had trailed after two first-half strikes from goalkicking No.10 Stephen Perofeta and prop Josh Fusitu'a.
Alas, the Blues ran in four tries to two after the interval to follow up a hard-fought 26-23 loss to the Chiefs last week in their season opener.
"It's important. We had a tough one in round one," Blues fullback Zarn Sullivan told Stan Sport.
"So to come over here to tick off the first one, and then go down to Canberra next week and hopefully get another one.
"You know, it's not easy to come over to Perth. It's lovely -the boys can clock off and get lost in paradise.
"So it's that mentality of being here for a job, get the job done, and let's get back home."
Blues 42 (Tries: Fusitu'a, Perofeta, Sullivan, Barnes, Forbes, Beehre; Cons: Perofeta 6) def Western Force 32 (Tries: Johnson-Holmes, Tizzano, Kuenzle, Donaldson; Cons: Donaldson 3; Pens: Donaldson 2
Western Force: 15 Mac Grealy, 14 Divad Palu, 13 George Bridge, 12 Hamish Stewart, 11 Bayley Kuenzle, 10 Ben Donaldson, 9 Nathan Hastie, 8 Vaiolini Ekuasi, 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Jeremy Williams (captain), 5 Darcy Swain, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 1 Tom Robertson
Replacements: 16 Leonel Oviedo, 17 Sef Fa’agase, 18 Misinale Epenisa, 19 Lopeti Faifua, 20 Kane Koteka, 21 Henry Robertson, 22 Max Burey, 23 Kurtley Beale
Blues: 15 Zarn Sullivan, 14 Cole Forbes, 13 AJ Lam, 12 Pita Akhi, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Finlay Christie,8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Dalton Papali’i (captain), 6 Anton Segner, 5 Josh Beehre, 4 Laghlan McWhannell, 3 Marcel Renata, 2 Bradley Slater, 1 Joshua Fusitu’a
Replacements: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Mason Tupaea, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Che Clark, 20 Torian Barnes, 21 Sam Nock, 22 Xavi Taele, 23 Codemeru Vai
Referee: Damon Murphy
Assistant referees: Jordan Way, Jeremy Markey
TMO: James Leckie
