2022 just one year too early for 'hurting' Blues
Sitting on a franchise-record 15-match win streak, boasting home advantage and having come out on top in the last meeting between the two sides, the Blues should have entered their Super Rugby Pacific final clash with the Crusaders brimming with confidence.
Past result counts for little, however, and despite the Blues clearly developing into one of the top club sides in the world over the past three seasons under the guidance of Leon MacDonald, they were thoroughly outclassed by the Crusaders on Saturday night – who were playing for their sixth Super Rugby crown in as many seasons.
Yes, the Blues may have won last year’s Trans-Tasman title, but the Crusaders took home the more prestigious Aotearoa trophy, and this year’s final loomed as the most likely opportunity for the Blues to take over the mantle as New Zealand’s top franchise.
It wasn’t to be, however, eventually falling to a 21-7 defeat on the back of a disastrous effort at the set-piece that prevented the home team from ever really getting out of first gear.
Still, 15 wins from 17 matches is certainly not a bad record for the year – the best record of any team, in fact, and one that any side from throughout Australsia would be happy to have finished on, despite the heartbreak of the final loss.
Promisingly, the Blues will have much of the same cattle to work with next year, with prop Karl Tu’inukuafe the only confirmed departure and former captain Patrick Tuipulotu set to return from Japan.
“We [will] have pretty much a similar squad, 99 per cent [the same],” said head coach MacDonald following the defeat.
“Other than a couple of exceptions, still pretty young. We’ve got a good group of young men and at times, some of the maturity and leadership they showed this year exceeded their age.
“I thought tonight was a big learning curve. The whole week was significantly different, dealing with the hype of this game, for some guys it was a really new experience. If you haven’t played a lot of test rugby, you’ve got to experience it to be able to learn how to deal with it and I think some guys will have some lessons from this week
“But overall, you can’t fault the effort and throughout the whole year I think our guys have been fantastic and working really hard for each other and play with a lot of pride. Every time they’ve pulled the Blues jersey on they gave it everything they had. Some guys are hurting in the changing shed right now, which is what you’d expect.”
While the Blues did have last year’s Super Rugby Trans-Tasman finals experience to fall back on, this year’s ultimate game was a different beast.
In 2021, the Blues squared off in the final with a Highlanders side they’d defeated in three of their previous four encounters. While the Blues did grab a win over the Crusaders in Christchurch earlier this year, that victory marked their first over the Cantabrians since 2014 – and the Crusaders had five previous years of finals experience to call upon.
In short, even though the Blues had form on their side, few would have instilled them as favourites for the match. With another final under their belts however – even though it was a loss – the Aucklanders will now be better placed for the seasons to come.
“Losing finals, I’ve got a bit of experience in that as well,” MacDonald said post-match. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to experience it tonight but it is what it is.
“You’ve got to take the good with the bad. It’s a game, ultimately, and it hurts like hell. If you win it, you want to come back and win it again and if you lose it, there’s that stone in your shoe that just doesn’t go away and we’ve got a group that can win a competition, I’ve got no doubt about that.
“It wasn’t for us this year but we’ll be back next year and we’ll be pretty hungry.”
Stand-in captain Beauden Barrett echoed MacDonald’s thoughts on the developing Blues side.
“Certainly, it’s a pretty good record,” he said of the team’s performance throughout 2022. “Obviously [the team] lacks final experience when it comes to a grand final and we’ll learn a lot from this one so we can hold our heads up high about the season that we’ve had but we’ll certainly remember this feeling that we’re feeling right now.
“You can’t fight it, it is what it is. As long as we stick together, we learn, it’s a great group of lads that we’ve got and we’ll stick tight in the next could of days and come back stronger next year, I’m sure.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Well, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
2 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
2 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
200 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
7 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
7 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
200 Go to commentsWho hurt this man.. LoL 😭
200 Go to commentsIt unfortunate for the Jaguares that they became formidable just as super rugby as we knew came to an end. However, the idea of bringing them back is nonsensical. While I enjoyed the Jaguares and the South African flavour of the comp, a selling point of this incarnation of super rugby is that all games are on a decent time for an Aussie audience.
3 Go to commentslol that’s your opinion Ben, All Blacks benefited from a forward pass try, SA played 77 min without a recognised hooker, missed a no try conversion and a penalty could have would have but didn’t
200 Go to commentsBrett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
3 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
7 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
7 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
200 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
200 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
200 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
6 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
6 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
7 Go to comments