Blues: This is what we dreamed about
Leon MacDonald tells Marc Hinton there’s no hiding from the pressures of today’s Super Rugby Aotearoa opener at Eden Park. ‘There will be a bit of feeling. They’ve made that pretty clear.’
This is bigger than rugby, bigger than simmering Kiwi rivalries, bigger than marquee signings kicking things off against their old sides. This might just be bigger than Ben-Hur because it’s as much about a nation beating the bejesus out of a killer virus, as it is about the Blues launching phase two of their season of redemption.
A capacity crowd of 41,000 will pack into Eden Park today (3.35pm kickoff) to watch the second instalment of the opening weekend of Super Rugby Aotearoa, when Leon MacDonald’s Blues host Jason Holland’s Hurricanes in a clash of blockbuster proportions. Storylines abound, interest is sky-high and the pressure is ratcheted up. And the hosts say, far from cowering before the bright light, they will be striding purposefully towards it.
‘‘We’ve talked about it,’’ says MacDonald, who is in year two of his mission to drag this failing franchise up off its knees.
‘‘It’s an exciting opportunity. They’re going to be primarily Blues people in the stadium. It’s what we dreamed of at the start of the year. We’re using it to our advantage. Hopefully, we’ll see a lot of Blues’ jerseys and flags and that’s going to give us the energy to put a performance in.’’
Lord knows the Blues could do with it, as much as the game of rugby could do with a bright and entertaining expression of all things good about this combative sport.
And what a contest is in prospect. Nowhere else in the world are they packing into stadiums to watch elite sport.
Following on from last night’s curtain-raiser in Dunedin, the Blues-Canes represents a celebration of potentially epic proportions.
Here are just some of the storylines in play: the 41,000 capacity crowd will be the biggest for a Super Rugby fixture in New Zealand since 45,000 packed the same venue for the same two teams on May 6, 2005; it will be All Blacks superstar Beauden Barrett’s first match for the Blues, against the franchise he played his first 125 games for; and it will complete the opening weekend of not only professional rugby’s post-Covid restart, but the first top-level sport to welcome fans en-masse since the virus shut down the world.
Then there are the rugby threads: are these Blues the real deal, as they hinted strongly at through the ill-fated first seven rounds of the competition proper in February and March? Can the Hurricanes get some payback for their shock home defeat to the Auks on March 7? What impact will the talismanic Barrett have on a home backline brimming with firepower? And can the returning Ardie Savea (off the bench) pick up where he left off in 2019 as New Zealand’s most dynamic and destructive rugby
player?
So much to find out. When Super Rugby proper shut down so suddenly mid-March, no-one’s heart sank more than the Blues, who had won five of seven and their last four on the bounce. The perennial Kiwi wooden-spooners had made some big shifts and now they get a second shot at redemption.
That it’s against a side coming with real intent makes it even better, says MacDonald. The Blues nabbed a Hurricanes great last year when they lured Barrett north. Then they sat them on their backsides in March with that 24-15 boilover.
‘‘There will be a bit of feeling,’’ says the coach.
‘‘They’ve made that pretty clear. There’s a bit of get-back from the last time, so we’ll be preparing for that. Two very good teams want to put a show on, it’s
Sunday afternoon, hopefully the sun is out, both teams will want to use the ball, and there is firepower and excitement across the park. It should be a great spectacle.’’
It should indeed.
The Barrett factor looms large. MacDonald has picked the master playmaker at fullback, and the prospect of he and the inform Otere Black carving openings for TJ Faiane, Rieko Ioane, Caleb Clarke and Mark Telea is an enticing one. Barrett says he’s envisioned the barbs coming from the likes of TJ Perenara and Dane Coles – great mates turned bitter rivals – but MacDonald doubts any lines will be crossed. ‘‘I don’t think they’ll come after him. I don’t think they’re that way inclined,’’ he says.
MacDonald senses his team is ready to make a fast start to this eight-match slogfest of Kiwi derbies, but admits there’s some uncertainty. It’s been three months since they last played, and no warmup games to gauge readiness by.
‘‘You’re not quite sure,’’ he says of what he’ll see today. ‘‘It’s a big occasion, we’re in great physical condition and there’s a good feel amongst the squad. But we know how tough the Hurricanes are and what sort of challenge it’s going to be.’’
If MacDonald has one wish heading into this monumental reopening of rugby, it’s this: ‘‘I hope it’s not a flash in the pan. It would be great if this was the new norm. Sunday afternoon kickoffs are great — New Zealand derbies are traditionally good games because they come with an attitude to play. It’s not about stopping the opposition playing; it’s about imposing your own game.
‘‘If we get that from both teams, a lot of people will hopefully walk away thinking ‘what a great game, how lucky are we to be able to sit there and watch it in our own city’.
‘‘The guys are excited about playing in front of a crowd, the crowd are excited about watching some live rugby, and hopefully we can put a game on that makes them want to come back again.’’
Rugby’s back. Forty-odd thousand people hope the Blues are too.
LEON MACDONALD, ABOVE