Posted February 23, 2017 22:39:18

Photo: Former Melbourne Storm winger Matt Duffie scored in his Super Rugby debut. (AAP: Tracey Nearmy)

The Melbourne Rebels' horror run of luck has contributed to a disappointing 56-18 loss to the Blues in their Super Rugby season opener at AAMI Park.

The Rebels were outclassed on Thursday night by the burly Blues, with teenage centre sensation Rieko Ioane finishing with a hat-trick among their haul of seven tries.

Melbourne started brightly but lost their skipper Nic Stirzaker to a head knock, not long after the half-back scored their first try in the seventh minute.

Stirzaker joined an already bulging bench of sidelined stars including NRL recruit winger Marika Koroibete and Wallabies Sean McMahon, Sefa Naivalu, James Hanson and Toby Smith.

They also lost experienced centre Mitch Inman, forcing a late backline reshuffle, while winger Jonah Placid was carried from the field in the second half with a leg injury.

While there were a few bright spots, particularly in the first half, the home side was outmuscled by the Blues at the breakdown.

The Rebels did themselves no favours in attack with some poor execution while their lineout struggled all night.

Stirzaker, who battled last season with various injuries, scored after the ball passed through some quick Rebels hands with debutant Jack Maddocks finding his half-back, who was able to fend off Akira Ioane.

Another Super Rugby rookie, Jackson Garden-Bachop, also scored in the first half after Jordy Reid charged down a kick but there was little else to celebrate.

Five-eighth Garden-Bachop missed two penalties and his own conversion, which cost his team the first-half lead and the Blues made them pay. The Auckland side went to the break leading 25-15.

Former Melbourne NRL winger Matt Duffie was among the Blues' tryscorers.

AAP

Topics: super-rugby, rugby-union, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia, new-zealand