Another game away from home and another frustrating loss, which makes it only 1 win from the last 22 games on the road compared to 13 wins from their last 22 home games. This makes their inability to win outside of the Auckland area a critical issue.
Their one win this season has come against the Australian conference leaders; the Brumbies and surprise, surprise, it was played at their home fortress of Eden Park, the only time they have played there this season. Their other two home games were played at Albany due to Eden Park being used for Cricket World Cup fixtures.
The Blues, on paper, look a very promising team. They have a high and very balanced mix of older experienced players, particularly in the forwards. Mealamu, Woodcock and Kaino alone have nearly 300 All Black caps between them, combined with a very exciting and young backline filled with some of the strongest and most elusive ball runners in the competition.
It’s not that the intent isn’t there either, except for the most recent loss to the Crusaders, every loss has had a margin of 12 points or less and at least half their losses this season could easily have been wins had it not been for their failure to play out the full 80 minutes of the game. Each player is putting in huge efforts every week. Against the Crusaders this week their workload was massive, the veteran Hayden Triggs was everywhere on the field making 9 huge tackles and disrupting at the breakdown, the young 19 year old flanker Akira Ioane who has represented New Zealand at Sevens was relentless, he ran a huge 54 metres and with 12 carries only the equally impressive Lolagi Visinia ran more meters (80) and had more carries (13) for the Blues last week. Visinia is another player who, after missing a few games through a head injury is improving game by game, he looks faultless under the high ball and is a deadly ball runner. Both are full of potential and have very bright futures ahead.
This begs the question, what’s going wrong with the Blues? Not playing out the full game is a big factor, they seem to let teams take an early advantage over them before kicking into gear and although they have rallied strongly, it has been a case of too little, too late. The much publicised criticism of Sir John Kirwin as coach surely must have some affect, now in his 3rd season as head coach for the Blues and having finished only 10th in both previous seasons and currently sitting in second last place this season, he so far hasn’t performed to expectations and his role must inevitably come under scrutiny. There have been whispers about Robbie Deans possibly being in the running for the next Head Coach role.
The other big question over their poor performances has to be about their lack of a world class First Five Eight. Every other New Zealand team has a class act in the pivot role. The Chiefs, Hurricanes and Crusaders all have a starting All Black in Cruden, Barrett and Carter. Additionally the Crusaders have All Black Colin Slade and the Highlanders the excellent Lima Sopoaga who, although not yet an All Black, recent reports have suggested is firmly on the All Blacks selectors radar. The Blues on the other hand have been weak in this area for a few seasons now. The general consensus on the Benji Marshall experiment was that it was a complete waste of everyone’s time. Bringing in an ageing rugby league player to a new code, to revive a struggling team looked destined to fail from the start, which it spectacularly did. They now have the experienced but limited Daniel Bowden who, at 29 and having played in England and Japan as well as NZ brings the much needed experience but lacks a certain X-factor. Additionally they have the promising Ihaia West who last season was pulled from the Chiefs wider training squad to play for the Blues as injury cover for Baden Kerr. West is another player full of potential but is certainly not yet anywhere near the level New Zealand’s other first fives and looks still to be in the apprentice phase. The biggest question is who could they bring in next season to fill this void? Carter and Slade are both heading overseas at the end of this season and the other three will be reluctant to leave their current strong performing teams for a struggling franchise.
I now find myself in a strange position of really wanting the Blues to improve and start winning games. Being from the Waikato there is certainly a big rivalry with our flashy northern neighbours and like the majority of New Zealand when it comes to the Blues my support would normally lie with the other team. Now, for the rest of this season however I would love to see them turn their season around and at least win a few of their remaining games and show some of the enormous potential this team has.
There does appear to be positives for the rest of the Blues season. Five of their six remaining regular round games will be played at home and next week they will be bolstered by the return of rested All Blacks Charles Piutau and arguably their most important player Jerome Kaino, who since his return to the Blues from a stint in Japan has been instrumental in leading this team. Other notable players returning in the next 1-2 weeks are the massive Patrick Tuipulotu and experienced ex Captain Luke Braid who have both been missed through injury. A full strength Blues pack can rival anyone as they have already proved this season by beating the Brumbies and only narrowly losing by margins of 7 or less against current leaders the Hurricanes and previous season’s champions the Waratahs and Chiefs. Any chances the Blues had at the playoffs are surely over but they may be able to salvage what’s left of their season and avoid the wooden spoon at least. They should put on a good show against the Force this weekend.
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