Blues attempt to sort issues
Crisis side can pinpoint problems — this week, it’s defence — but struggle to fix them
No team drops into crisis mode with the ease of the Blues. No team in New Zealand knows the drill better. Familiarity with this scenario has bred contempt among the fan base, but maybe not so much with the players and coaching staff. By having done it so often, the coaches and players have at least become adept at pinpointing quickly and accurately where they went wrong.
That bit, they are good at. They have never had too many problems identifying their faults and not that it should have been overly challenging working out what went wrong in the 63-40 loss to the Sharks. The Blues have at least worked out that they were an abomination on defence.
“After a performance like that, it is pretty obvious what we need to be working on,” said Blues coach Tana Umaga. “We have to get the defensive side of our game right.
“We can’t chuck everything out. We haven’t got time to start again, so I have faith in what we are doing. We have reviewed it and seen the areas we need to focus on. You only have so many days to rectify things so you can’t cover everything.”
The harder part of the puzzle and the bit they have rarely if ever managed, is to bounce back quickly with definitive evidence they have fixed the problems they identified.
It has no doubt been a tough week. One where a frustrated coaching staff have put plenty of heat on the players to take a greater level of personal responsibility for their performances.
Umaga didn’t quite get round to being explicit as to what sort of tone has been adopted in regard to his dealings with the players, but he was clear about how he felt in the minutes after last week’s hiding by the Sharks.
“I was pretty pissed off that we lost, to be honest,” he said. “I don’t know, did you want me to smile?”
But even if things have been laid
Jerome Kaino and the Blues have had a week of soul-searching after shipping 63 points against the Sharks at home last weekend.
bare in the build-up and the Blues have done ample soul searching, that provides little reason to believe they will be a vastly improved side when they take on the Chiefs in Hamilton tomorrow.
They’ve had many similar weeks where they promised an improvement and didn’t get close. What does, however, provide a little confidence they will be more of a force is the personnel changes Umaga has made.
Rieko Ioane has been returned to his preferred role at centre, allowing TJ Faiane to come in at second-five and offer more ball playing and decision-making. Kara Pryor makes his first start of the season at openside and his pace will be important in helping the Blues have better numbers over the tackled ball.
The third major change is the promotion of halfback Jonathan Ruru to start. He may have a few rough edges to his game but he plays with a greater desire to get his hands on the ball and move it than Sam Nock.
“You have got to move on quick. How can we get back up and get ready for this weekend? And that is the key for us. We know we can do some really good things and if we can FMG Stadium, tomorrow, 7.35pm limit some of those other things [poor defence], then we are a good shot to get the outcome we want. If we don’t, then we are going to keep having some bad days.”
Fijian loose forward Pita Gus Sowakula will make his first start for the Chiefs in one of three changes to the run-on side to face the Blues.
Sowakula, who made his competition debut off the bench in last weekend’s 27-22 win over the Highlanders, will wear the No 8 jersey tomorrow.
Lachlan Boshier is back on the blindside, with Liam Messam rotating to the reserves, while Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi gets another shot at halfback. With Brad Weber missing from the match-day squad, Jonathan Taumateine has his first chance of the season off the bench.