Despite thriller, it’s more Blues

WHILE Pat Lam was proud of how his side played against the Chiefs last night, it was yet another defeat his side has to take and he admits to being sick of of the long string of losses.

It was the best performance all season for the Blues but they have yet another L next to their name in a campaign that’s already had far too many of them.

‘‘I’m gutted that this was another one that got away,’’ Lam said. ‘‘But I am really proud of the effort of the boys on the back of last week. It was about stepping up again.

‘‘Once again the forwards laid a good platform and this week the backs stepped up and created a lot more. To have Rene Ranger and Rudi Wulf back made a big difference, they can do things and they’ve got that X-factor and that was a big boost for the team.

‘‘At the end of the match we showed a lot of character to claw it back, well back behind by 14 points but we fought our way back.

‘‘The second half there were some turnovers and that was the story of our season. Rene was five metres out, then there was a turnover and bang, we’re right down the other end and it’s try time.

But one thing you can’t take away is the effort of the team, which was very good.’’

Lam said it’s important for the remainder of the campaign that the players repeat their performance of last night and play with that spirit and intensity for their last two games after the All Blacks break.

‘‘It was a step up from last week,’’ Lam said. ‘‘We’ve gone nine weeks on the trot without a break so they deserve a good break, those who aren’t in the All Blacks or the North v South game.

‘‘We’ll have, like, another preseason and try to have two wins, against the Force and Brumbies when we come back.

‘‘We are happy with the effort, but we’re sick of losing and again it was another close one.’’

Piri Weepu, who’ll be named in the All Blacks squad tomorrow, didn’t feature in the game and Lam explained that he had a slight injury before the game.

‘‘In the warm-up he felt his hamstring. We were quickly scrambling around to find Sherwin Stowers or any one of the guys who had their boots,’’ he said.

‘‘But then Piri felt that he could go. He was going to go on at halftime but once he did that we said we’d only use him if there is an injury and wouldn’t risk him. For New Zealand rugby there are a big three weeks coming up.

‘‘If we didn’t have to put him out there we wouldn’t. He was frustrated but it’s in the best interest of Piri and the All Blacks and Alby [Mathewson] was going fine.’’