Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu knows his team have everything to prove. Photo / www.photosport.nz
Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu knows his team have everything to prove. Photo / www.photosport.nz
Now we await the response.
We’ve been here before with the Blues. A commanding regular season, only to stumble into the postseason and falter when it matters most.
This is where Vern Cotter, in his first season helming the Blues, earns his crust.
Cotter’s men have, for the most part, projected the image of a much more hardened, resilient team this season. Their forward pack in particular have been formidable.
Two weeks ago the Blues hung tough to deny the impressive Hurricanes at Eden Park. At that point, they looked the real deal.
Yet last week’s loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch, where their scrum disintegrated, their lineout buckled, focus wavered and errors after scoring points proved costly, delivered a reality check to leave everyone wondering whether the Blues have presented another illusion.
Mental frailties in the finals unravelled the Blues in the past two years. Will that nagging notion hold true again? Or is this Blues side cut from stronger cloth?
With crunch time nearing, we’re about to find out.
One regular season loss doesn’t define a season but last week’s defeat does hand the Hurricanes the upper hand to secure the top spot throughout the playoffs.
With the Highlanders resting several frontline players, including in-form outside backs Timoci Tavatavanawai and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, flanker Sean Withy and starting lock Mitch Dunshea, the Hurricanes are in the box seat to bag a bonus point and finish first.
The Blues face the vastly tougher task of chasing an unlikely bonus point victory against the Chiefs at Eden Park.
By 7pm on Saturday night, the Blues will know the equation to overhaul the Hurricanes. But with the Chiefs resisting the urge to rest en masse, with All Blacks Anton Lienert-Brown and Tupou Vaa’i the only major outs, despite not being able to improve from fourth place, their intent is clear.
Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu knows his team will need to be sharp to bounce back against the Chiefs. Photo / Photosport
The return of Chiefs hitman Samipeni Finau should be enough to put the Blues on notice.
Losing to the Crusaders should serve as a timely reminder for the Blues. Nothing is given, nothing guaranteed, at this time of year.
As Cotter points out, now is not the time to get swept up in the hype or start believing wins will fall in the lap.
The Blues must quickly learn to ride through uncomfortable moments and understand, from here on, they won’t have it all their way.
“When you’re successful for a period you think things will happen,” Cotter said. “It is a wake-up call when you come up against a team that’s well prepared and wants to fight every occasion and you find yourself behind.”
This week has ushered in a distinctive change of tone for the Blues, with “Stern” Vern reinforcing standards and demanding immediate improvements.
“You can’t ignore certain things. The response from the players has been great. That loss hurt, they’re proud, and they’ve been busy fixing those things. Whether it be technical, tactical, attitude or bringing something else, they’ve been up for it. We know it’s business end of the season so you have to get it done.”
Patrick Tuipulotu can’t be accused of not attempting to inspire his troops. With a series of powerful carries against the Crusaders Tuipulotu sent another statement of his eagerness to win an All Blacks recall.
“The game plan suits my style of play – getting the ball in my hands and carrying quite a bit. I enjoy that,” Tuipulotu said. “We’ve got a bunch of superstars outside me so that makes it easy.
“Personally I’m happy but I’ve got to stay injury free and carry on that form. I’ve always told myself if I play well here higher honours will look after itself. With the All Blacks playing England that’s a big test series. Hopefully I’m in there. I haven’t really proved myself on the test scene so that’s a big motivator.”
From a team perspective, though, the Blues captain knows they have everything to prove. Reinstating Dalton Papali’i and Caleb Clarke from their All Blacks-enforced rests should spark a lift.
“Last week’s loss is very frustrating for us but we’d rather that at this stage in the season than in a couple of weeks where we don’t get to have a second chance.
“It certainly puts things in perspective. We still have a lot of work on. We’re not the perfect team. You’re not going to win the competition with performances like we had at the weekend.
“We let ourselves down in that mental game so that’s something for the leadership, my role and the other leaders, to recognise. That’s the hardest bit. We want home advantage. Winning this game with a bonus point is part of the way there.
“Against the Chiefs we’ve got to set those things right. We want to stay at the top to have home games in the finals. That’s huge. You could see in our home game against the Hurricanes the crowd was buzzing. There’s always a lift, especially with a near-capacity Eden Park, that brings the best out in us.
“The Chiefs have flown under the radar a bit. That’s a good thing for them. They’ll be aiming to peak for this stage of the season. They’ve got a big set-piece focus and their forward pack is huge. We play a similar game around the collisions and then D-Mac runs their game. We’ll try to put pressure on him.”
After an all-too-familiar late-season stumble, that pressure is squarely on the Blues to summon a response.
