Kirwan talking up Blues despite loss

CONFIDENT: Blues coach Sir John Kirwan, pictured ahead of the side's game against the Chiefs at Toll Stadium on Thursday, says a team effort, rather than individual flair, will be the key to success this Super Rugby season. PHOTO/JOHN STONE

Sir John Kirwan believes a good old-fashioned team effort is required from the Blues to reach the play-offs this season.

The Blues coach expects every member of the playing squad to step up and do the job, rather than relying on the team's star power to get the job done.

"I think the secret of Super Rugby is having a full squad and I've been really impressed with the guys in the squad and the wider training group, we've got a really well balanced squad this year ... and the most important thing is that no matter what happens, anyone in the squad should be able to step up," he said.

Blues fans are unlikely to tolerate another unsuccessful season and the requirements of the All Black coaches will put extra demands on the squad in this world cup year.

"I expect our people to be impatient and to have high expectations because I do," Kirwan said.

The coach is keen to remain in the job and while he is disappointed at not making the play-offs last year, he has accepted it as part of the building process.

"We can't make the excuse that we've missed it by a game again this year or we'll be doing the same next year - for us it's about making changes within the franchise and within the organisation," he said.

"I sort of knew it was going to be a three to five year job and this is the third year and it's time to start seeing some real results from the changes we've made over the past two years and a result for us is making the play-offs," he said.

The franchise is the country's biggest with the largest population base yet they haven't won the competition for 13 years.

Kirwan said this year's build-up has been good despite George Moala's recent court case and losing Peter Saili's having minimal effect.

"I think the team has become more mature at coping with adversity. It happens in any industry and our guys haven't really missed a beat - George is with us tonight and Peter has decided to go overseas to pursue a career elsewhere but the boys haven't batted an eyelid and they've kept working hard and I think it's probably been the best pre-season that we've had to date," he said.

While Thursday night's game against the Chiefs at Toll Stadium wasn't the kind of performance Kirwan was hoping for, the 41-20 defeat identified areas that the team needed to work on.

"[The game] was more about trying to execute our plan which we did at times but at other times we were shoddy and a bit lax and we got punished for our errors," he said.

The errors could be easily fixed and he also took some positives from the match including the set-piece. Kirwan said that the team planned to introduce a new style of play throughout the early part of the season.

"We'll be playing differently - I don't want to reveal too much but we definitely will be playing differently this season, it'll be a different Blues but we'll still be playing to our strengths, we've got a strong backline and our forwards are of an international calibre," he said.