The Hurricanes showcased their mastery of the counter-attack to fend off the Blues at Eden Park on Friday and shore up second spot in the New Zealand Conference.

The Barrett brothers proved lethal, with fullback Jordie nosing the Hurricanes in front with a first half try and flyhalf Beauden making a brilliant intercept to cross in the second as the visitors claimed their fifth successive win.

The Blues battled hard and dominated possession and territory but were denied repeatedly by dogged goal-line defence and slumped to their fourth straight loss.

Scrumhalf Sam Nock and blindside flanker Dalton Papali'i grabbed tries for the Blues, with jet-heeled winger Ben Lam capitalising on a turnover and evading a nest of defenders in a scorching run to score the Hurricanes' first five-pointer.