‘Bit of a grudge game’ for Blues
BLUES captain Keven Mealamu says his team are getting ready for a “grudge match” in tomorrow’s Super Rugby clash at Newlands.
The Stormers have beaten the Blues the last two years in a row at Eden Park in Auckland, although the Kiwis did emerge victorious on their last visit to Newlands in 2009.
“It’s about taking the learnings from the past matches against the Stormers,” veteran All Black hooker Mealamu said during a media briefing at the team hotel in the city yesterday. “It’s always a bit of a grudge match if it’s been so long since you have beaten them. But it just doesn’t happen like that. We will come prepared for this game.”
And it is in the lineouts where the Blues may face their biggest test, as they have lost All Black lock Anthony Boric to a neck injury. He will be replaced by 24-year-old Filo Paulo, who played for most of the 2010 season as a replacement for the injured Ali Williams, and doesn’t lack for height or size as he is 2-metres tall and weighs 122kg. “It’s yet another big blow to lose Anthony,” Blues coach Pat Lam said yesterday.
“Not only in terms of the player, but his experience as an All Black. On the back of losing Jerome Kaino in our pack, and Tony Woodcock will only be ready next week, there’s a big chunk of experience not here. We’ve lost a lot in the backs as well, and are down to our bare numbers. Two of our wider group boys are on the bench now, but that is the nature of the competition. There is no point in crying about it. It’s a great challenge for these boys, and a good opportunity for our team.”
Paulo will also have veteran All Black lock Williams alongside him, who is 2.02m. But they will face even bigger second-rowers in Stormers giants Eben Etzebeth and Andries Bekker, who are 2.04m and 2.08m respectively, and both big men showed good form in the wins over the Hurricanes and Sharks.
Mealamu, who has 92 Test caps and turns 33 next week, knows that he won’t have it easy when feeding the lineouts tomorrow night at what is expected to be a windy Newlands.
“The best thing is to come prepared. We know what a dangerous lineout they are, both on their ball and on our ball. But we expect guys to step up – I know Filo will step up – and every week is about having the right plan,” he said.
“It’s just tough, you can’t play this game without the ball, so there is a lot of pressure on us to make sure that we get a good supply there. We need to go out there and execute. You don’t get anyone taller and more athletic than Andries in this competition! It’s going to be a good battle, and I know that Ali is looking forward to the challenge. We want to put good pressure on them there.”
The Blues appeared to intimidate the Bulls at Loftus last week, with their forwards winning the collisions in the tackles and disrupting the home side’s breakdowns. But they still made a lot of mistakes, and had Morné Steyn not missed four out of seven kicks at goal, it could’ve been a different result.
Mealamu said that his team can still improve significantly. “I thought we had a good win, but we had a lot of errors that we can still fix up. If we are able to lower those errors, we could put together a better game for us. Then we stand a better chance of getting a win at the weekend,” he said.
“But for us, it always starts at set-piece, making sure that we can get a good flow of ball to our backs. If we keep our errors down, there’s a good chance of us executing our game.”
Lam added that his team will have extra motivation to pull off a victory at the Newlands cauldron after former All Black captain and New Zealand rugby boss Jock Hobbs, the father of Blues flyhalf Michael, lost his battle with leukaemia this week aged just 52.
“It’s been quite an emo- tional time losing Michael Hobbs, who had to go home to see his dad. We are pleased that he could do that,” Lam said. “To lose Jock Hobbs is sad for New Zealand rugby, so we certainly want to play a big one this week and for the rest of the year. Michael is part of our team, and Jock’s massive in New Zealand rugby for what he’s done. It’s another reason for us to play well.”
BLUES TEAM 15 Lachie Munro, 14 David Raikuna, 13 Benson Stanley, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Sherwin Stowers, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Chris Lowrey, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Luke Braid, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Filo Paulo, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Keven Mealamu (capt), 1 Pauliasi Manu. 16 Tom Mccartney, 17 Tevita Mailau, 18 Bradley Mika, 19 Peter Saili, 20 Alby Mathewson, 21 Hadleigh Parkes, 22 Ben Lam.