Big victory eases pressure on Blues
Jaco Kriel earns this prize based largely on one statistic: nine defenders beaten. That’s more than the entire Brumbies team managed in their clash with the Highlanders, more than any forward has managed in one match this season. Kriel, as that number suggested, had his way with the Kings defence in the Lions’ big win, leading both teams with 116 metres on 14 carries, while also making four clean breaks, chucking a couple of offloads, seeing up one try and scoring another after busting clear from a maul. The blindside flanker also did a decent job in his core duties but it was with ball in hand where he really shone. It’s too early to talk about corners being turned at the Blues, but after three defeats in a row, and a horror first half against the Bulls at North Harbour, their five-try burst for what turned out to be a convincing win has released some of the pressure building on the team and their coach Tana Umaga.
Their start at QBE Stadium featured an Augustine Pulu try after only three minutes, but the vastly improved Bulls defence tightened the screws, and that was evidenced by an alarming number of errors from many of the Blues, including senior players who are capable of much better.
Some of that might be down to the increased scrutiny following a run of defeats against the Chiefs, Highlanders and Crusaders which made a victory against the South Africans non-negotiable.
Afterwards, wing Matt Duffie, who scored the first two tries of the second half to help set the Blues on track for their 38-14 win, talked about the pressure building throughout the past three weeks, and former Blues and All Blacks loose forward Troy Flavell told Sky TV on the eve of the match about the “heat” that will be coming on to Umaga in his second season with the franchise.
Their supporters would have demanded improvements after their recent disappointments and they will hope that what they saw in the second 40 minutes against the Bulls will be shown from start to finish against the Force at Eden Park on Saturday.
“The last three weeks have been tough on the group,” Duffie said afterwards. “We’ve been getting pressure left, right and centre. It’s been hard to take that on board and try to perform on the weekend and I think it’s a credit to some of the guys in the team — they’ve really stood up and faced that adversity.
“Going into halftime [ against the Bulls], it was frustrating because we know we’re better than that. I guess the second half was a snippet of how we can play but it’s about being ruthless enough to do it for 80 minutes and ruthless enough not to throw that offload.”
The offload created Pulu’s try, and fullback Michael Collins deserves credit for that and for the one which set up Duffie’s first, but it also got the Blues in trouble in the first half. But, to their credit, the Blues persisted and in the end, they got results.
“We talked about how they would obviously tire in the second half and if we just kept at them, we’d get them,” Umaga said. “We did stick to our game and we tried to play a bit, and it just started opening up. The positive thing for us is that we started to talk a bit more and take the opportunities.”
The Blues were in charge at 19-7 when flanker Jimmy Tupou was sinbinned by referee Nic Berry for a high tackle in the 58th minute, but with George Moala providing his ample power to the side of the scrum, the Blues just kept going, Ihaia West scoring while Tupou was off and Matt Moulds and Melani Nanai scoring two more when he returned.
That ability to keep attacking with 14 men showed to Umaga the “resilience and fortitude we’re trying to build”, and in wing Duffie, they have an attacker who is flourishing.
“His overall game has been awesome, the last two weeks especially,” Umaga said. “He’s just coming out of his shell and expressing himself. We all know he’s pretty good under the high ball and pretty quick, but I put a bit of a quip in a couple of weeks ago that he’s our No 1 ball carrier getting over the gain line.
“He showed that again — it’s not always about being the most powerful, it’s about good feet, he runs hard when he needs to and I think that’s building confidence in him.”
Duffie said: “It’s pleasing. I was battling away this time last year and got my crack at the end of the year.
“Every game, I’m stressing about putting in a good performance because I want to hold on to this right-wing
spot for dear life.”