Blues may have some major work-ons but they've also weathered one of toughest possible starts to Super Rugby
Three weeks into the season and the Blues are already being written off.
The Blues are sitting eighth on the Super Rugby standings and fourth in the New Zealand conference after one win and two losses.
Across New Zealand, the Blues are being tagged as the disappointments of the country – it’s the same old stuff from the Auckland-based side, apparently.
But that’s not quite true.
It’s early days yet, but while it certainly hasn’t been the best start to a season, there’s still plenty of water to pass under the Harbour Bridge before we get a real understanding of what this Blues team is capable of.
Continue reading below…
One from three isn’t anything to write home about – but look who the Blues have had to compete with so far.
In round one, the Chiefs came to Eden Park. The Blues managed to build a solid 19-5 halftime lead courtesy of a brace of tries to (now injured) wing Rieko Ioane.
The Chiefs fought back in the second stanza after they were able to introduce All Blacks Atu Moli, Brad Weber, Aaron Cruden and Anton Lienert-Brown off the bench, ultimately triumphing 37-29.
The Blues’ round two opponents, the Waratahs, may have had their worst-ever start to a Super Rugby season – but that’s partially due to what the Blues managed to achieve in Newcastle.
Rob Simmons, Michael Hooper, Karmichael Hunt and Kurtley Beale were all on hand for the Waratahs and the fact that the Blues were able to lead the game from start to finish – while playing away from home – is a testament to their ability.
The All Black hooker's whirlwind cameo in his return from injury had a bit everything – good and bad. #HURvSHA #SuperRugby https://t.co/2SpAoJn5UB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 15, 2020
In round three, the Blues again played host to a New Zealand side – this time facing the defending champion Crusaders.
As in round one, the Blues started fast and built a small lead but they were ultimately no match for the Crusaders.
And despite the Crusaders haemorrhaging experience between seasons, they were still able to field a backline containing an All Black in every position except halfback – although even then, Bryn Hall did tour with the national side at the end of 2018 and one-cap All Black Mitchell Drummond came off the bench in the second half.
The Crusaders pack wasn’t quite so decorated, but they were still able to call upon Codie Taylor, Joe Moody and Scott Barrett – all of whom started in New Zealand’s World Cup semi-final last year.
The common trend in the Blues’ games to dates is that they’ve squared off against sides littered with experienced Test-level internationals – while the Aucklanders haven’t had the same luxury.
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On Friday night against the Crusaders, the Blues started six players who have previously earned caps for the All Blacks: James Parsons, Karl Tu’inukuafe, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Patrick Tuipulotu, Dalton Papalii and Matt Duffie.
Of those six, just two travelled to the 2019 World Cup and none of them started in the pivotal match against England.
Excluding the two that were in Japan, the Blues’ All Blacks had an average of just four Test-caps each.
That’s a far cry from what the Crusaders, Chiefs and even Waratahs were able to field, in terms of internationals.
This came down to the WIRE.https://t.co/I9KCaiwwie
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 15, 2020
And that difference in experience was very clearly reflected in expectations heading into the season. The Crusaders and Chiefs were instilled as the two favourites to take out the competition in all the major betting agencies around the world.
The Blues, meanwhile, were expected to finish a distant fourth in the New Zealand conference.
Come the end of the season, you’ll struggle to find many teams that are able to best both the Crusaders and the Chiefs – the fact that the Blues were able to make any in-roads on them at all is a sign of growth in the side.
In fact, there are plenty of reasons for Blues supporters to remain optimistic.
First five Stephen Perofeta, a man who has looked down on confidence, attacked the line with vigour on Friday night.
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When a 10 challenges the defence instead of simply shovelling the ball on, it gives considerably more space and time to his outside backs to work some magic in the wider channels.
TJ Faiane and English import Joe Marchant have both looked dangerous when given a bit of space while new wing Mark Telea notched a hat-trick of tries against the Waratahs.
Perofeta has spent plenty of time on the sidelines injured and regular game time will do wonders for the man who helped orchestrate the Blues’ historic victory over the British and Irish Lions in 2017.
It was Perfoeta’s audacious chip that sparked the linebreak to eventually create the Blues’ first try – scored by Perofeta after he identified a gap between two front-rowers defending the Crusaders’ line.
After the last three World Cups, the @AllBlacks have immediately brought a new first five into the squad. Ian Foster will struggle to do the same in 2020, writes @TomVinicombe. #SuperRugby https://t.co/QteVpEioHN
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 13, 2020
It might not have been the most structured play but it came off nonetheless – and if the ball keeps bouncing Perofeta’s way then he’ll continue to grow into the jersey.
Where Perofeta desperately does need to find some form, however, is kicking for goal.
The Taranaki first five has converted just five of his 12 attempts on goal, which could dearly cost the Blues in the long run.
“It’s a massive work on and I’m trying,” Perofeta told Stuff.
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“It’s not a worry, but a confidence thing for me. But it won’t change how I’m practising during the week, how often I’m practising because that’s my job, I’ve got to nail it for the team.
“The better I do that and nail it, the more the team will get out of it.”
With Beauden Barrett due back in mid-April, Perofeta will need to have a solid hold on the 10 jersey if he wants to prevent the All Blacks from taking over.
The other big weakness for the Blues was in their set-piece, with five lineout feeds finding their way into Crusaders’ possession.
Leon MacDonald attributed that to the early loss of lineout caller Josh Goodhue who was left limping around on crutches after the match.
Beauden Barrett is undoubtedly a huge signing for the @BluesRugbyTeam, but there are a number of other playmakers in the side that will need to step up before Barrett arrives late in the @SuperRugby season, writes @TomVinicombe.https://t.co/VxCLFO2vzp#SuperRugby
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 5, 2020
The Blues will have to sort out who’s going to take over the calls in Africa with Goodhue unlikely to travel.
The next two weeks will play a massive role in the success of the Blues’ season.
If they can score at least one win against either the Bulls or the currently undefeated Stormers then the former champions will return to New Zealand with some newfound courage and belief.
If, however, the Blues arrive back in the country desperate for points against the ever-improving Hurricanes, then their season may well be on tenterhooks before the messiah Beauden Barrett can even make an appearance for his new franchise.
WATCH: RugbyPass put some questions to new All Blacks Coach Ian Foster on Sky Sports show, The Breakdown.
Comments on RugbyPass
I’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. Second, New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
1 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
134 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
8 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
8 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
134 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
134 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
134 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
8 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
8 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to comments