Players have pre-season Blues

PACKING DOWN: Northland and new Blues hooker Matt Moulds (right), packs down against his Chiefs counterpart Quentin McDonald during the game at Toll Stadium on Thursday. PHOTO/JOHN STONE

THE SUPER Rugby pre-season match at Toll Stadium proved to be a drought breaker for the Chiefs and a reminder to the Blues that there's still some work to do before the season starts.

The Chiefs were more polished with the ball and better disciplined at the breakdown, dealing the Blues a heavy 41-20 defeat and outscoring the home side by six tries to two on Thursday.

It was a typical pre-season encounter with both sides struggling to hold on to the ball in the unseasonable rain but the Chiefs were able to make more of their possession and Blues and former All Blacks halfback Jimmy Cowen said it had provided a well-timed warning for his side.

"It's been a tough pre-season in the last five or six weeks but we're in game mode now and it's all about maintaining our structures, working on our game and I think we saw tonight that we've still got some way to go but there's still two weeks to get it sorted before the season starts," he said after the match.

Cowen said the rain had made handling difficult but, despite the final score, the team's performance hadn't been too bad.

"We've got plenty to work on but we'll get there ... It's probably the first bit of rain we've seen this year and it's just part and parcel of the game and in a way it was pretty refreshing," he said.

The first spell was pretty even and it wasn't until later in the second quarter that the Chiefs finally took the advantage after a typical bustling Ben Tameifuna try.

The Blues then went off the boil and conceded back-to-back tries to trail the Chiefs 24-6 at the break.

With both teams radically changing their line-ups for the second half and another downpour making handling conditions even more difficult, the spell was tough viewing for the good sized crowd of over 3000.

The Blues forwards broke the deadlock with their first try but neither team really dominated until well into the final quarter, when the Chiefs scored the best try of the game, finished off by loosie Tevita Koloamatangi.

They scored another try on the counter as the Blues began to chance their arm before Blues' replacement first five-eighths Simon Hickey scored a well deserved try to end the scoring action.

The Blues management are unlikely to be pleased with how the team performed overall but may yet benefit from using the game as a motivational tool in the remaining two weeks before the season kicks off at QBE Stadium at North Harbour - with another encounter against the Chiefs.

The Blues set-piece was tidy and there was some good defence with some fleeting glimpses of what the side is capable of on attack.

They will be relieved when their All Blacks come back on-line with Jerome Kaino, Keven Mealamu, Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu and Charles Piutau still being "transitioned" back into the team after the end of the year European tour, and Tony Woodcock and Luke Braid still on their way back from injury.

Cowen said the conditional use of the All Blacks was just part of the playing landscape in a World Cup year.

"We're all in the same boat - it's a matter of who deals best with it," he said.

The only injury concern from the match was a toe injury to returning Northland Taniwha Dan Bowden.

The Blues final pre-season game is against the Hurricanes at North Harbour next Friday, at 4pm.