Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Blues don’t need to push panic button just yet
With no league over the weekend I watched a lot of rugby. The Blues were great for 40 minutes but fell flat at the end of the game, losing to the Chiefs 37-29, but my advice is not to panic, there is a long way to go.
It might have been a 40-minute performance but it was still 40 minutes more than the Hurricanes managed in South Africa, because they were just horrible for the entire 80 against the Stormers, losing 27-0, and frankly they were very lucky to get nil.
They tell me it will be a hard slog for the Hurricanes having lost Beauden Barrett, and I hope that’s true given he has come to the Blues, where winning is not exactly an everyday occurrence.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Canes because they travel to Buenos Aires this week to play the Jaguares, who made the final last year, and started this year by flogging the Lions 38-8.
I watched the Crusaders take on the Waratahs too, and while they might have lost a lot of star players they got a great 43-25 win, ruthless and efficient as ever, scoring six tries to three in Nelson.
That’s 32 home games without defeat. What Blues fans would do for a record like that I shudder to think.
The big shock was the Sunwolves winning 36-27 win against the Rebels in Fukuoka. I have a soft spot for the Sunwolves because of what Japan has done at Rugby World Cups and while I am the first to confess I am no expert, I can’t understand why you would be kicking them out of the competition when you are trying to expand the game.
I wrote last week about being disappointed with how my Black Caps have been going, and I was pleased that when they played in the week I could turn the TV off early and catch up with my sleep because it was getting a bit late for an old fellah like me.
With just three overs to go I was safe in the knowledge we could not lose from where we were and I went to sleep happier than I had been. I should have known better.
I had to read the morning paper twice when it reported that we managed to blow it, losing three wickets in the final over to let India take it to a super over, which we then lost. I may have sworn.
I expected better on Sunday night and after a shaky old start Tim Siefert and Ross Taylor got us into a position where all we had to do was tiddle it about a bit and coast home. I should have known better. We found a way to lose, and to hand India a 5-0 whitewash.
The only consolation is that it’s only T20.
So it was up to the Breakers to save my weekend.
They had a great win on Friday night, beating the Adelaide 36ers 113-89 and then on
Sunday they played the
Illawarra Hawks and came away with a win after the game was called off because of a leaky roof, with the Auckland team ahead at the time.
After losing game after game of cricket, sometimes you don’t care how you win. Rain assisted, fine by me.
Come on Black Caps, we have to have better in store surely.