Blues steal late trial win over Waratahs NSW lost a tight 40-36 Super Rugby trial match to the Blues, after conceding an injury-time try in Whangarei on Saturday. Peter Saili scored the winner, prompting a relieved Blues flanker Luke Braid to say it was good sneak home after a first up loss to the Reds. Braid was impressed with the way the second-half team came back to win after the Waratahs looked to have done enough deep into the fourth quarter. "It was awesome to watch how they hung in there and fought back over that whole half," he said. All eyes were on the second-half appearance of former NRL superstar Israel Folau, who displayed flashes of brilliance with the ball in hand but is still very much a work in progress with a couple of wayward kicks showing his inexperience at this level. But it was enough to impress Braid. "He looked awesome," he siad. It's great for Super Rugby to have guys like that jump across the codes especially if he's going to get people tuned in and watching. After a gritty first spell, the Blues led 12-7 at the break, before the big names joined in after halftime. After Jed Holloway scored to level things up, Folau ran 20 metres in a well-worked lineout play drawing two tacklers and allowing Tom Kingston an untouched run to the tryline. The second half see-sawed after that with Kingston scoring again to extend their lead to 24-12 before Blues prop Tim Perry narrowed their advantage. Folau then scored what could have been a game breaker, beating the fullback effortlessly after Elijah Niko had made the initial break at centre. Kingston capped off a day to remember, by completing a second-half hat-trick. The visitors' defensive lapses, especially a failure to take a kickoff which gifted Waisake Naholo the easiest try he'll ever score and sparked the Blues comeback, will no doubt be worked on before their final pre-season match against the Crusaders in Sydney next week. Openside flanker Michael Hooper looked good in his debut match, making up for a missed tackle which led to the Blues opening try with a superb turnover from a Blues defensive ruck eventually leading to fullback Cam Crawford scoring. Rene Ranger remained at the centre of any Blues backline threat before being replaced at halftime, while Chris Noakes was also good at flyhalf.