Josh Moorby has scored two first-half tries while Kini Naholo also crossed for one and set up another as the Hurricanes beat the Blues 29-21 to stay unbeaten after three rounds in Super Rugby Pacific.

The wingers profited from being at the ends of a very skilful Hurricanes backline in which halfback Cam Roigard and fullback Reuben Love were outstanding on Saturday night in Wellington.

Roigard made line breaks on the fringe of a strong Hurricanes scrum and in the loose and Love stretched the Blues defence with kicks and long passes. Both were also part of a strong 'Canes defensive effort.

Both sides came into the match with two wins and the Hurricanes now move to the top of the table near the end of the third round.

The Blues had beaten Fijian Drua and the Highlanders while the Hurricanes won matches across the Tasman over the Western Force and Queensland Reds.

"We came back from Australia with two wins under our belt and we went over there trying to accomplish that," Moorby said.

"Coming into this New Zealand derby we wanted to continue our good start this season so taking the win was massive. They're a big pack and they battled hard. It was just a massive effort from the boys on defence."

The Blues suffered a major setback when they simultaneously lost fullback Zarn Sullivan and winger A.J. Lam to injuries early in the match. Going into the contest, they chose a 6-2 split on the bench with six forwards and two backs. That meant they had no back reserves left after replacing the injured players.

Halfback Taufa Funaki played most of the match on the wing and back-rower Hoskins Sotutu had to move to the wing when Mark Tele'a was injured late on.

The Hurricanes stung the Blues with tries to Moorby in the 13th and 26th minutes.