How readily and easily panic spread would have been excruciating viewing for Blues forwards coach Tom Coventry, who had to discover in the most public and humiliating way that he had not, as he and everyone else believed, moulded his pack into the sort of self-assessing, resilient unit that can fix problems in real time and adapt to the unexpected.
These are going to be painful realisations to digest. Just as the backline will have to squirm a little as they look at how little influence they had on proceedings.
They were playing with limited possession, mostly behind the gainline, and because of the calamity that unfolded at the lineout, they were denied the chance to attack from their preferred platform.
Even allowing for this there was a jitteriness about their work – an obvious sense of uncertainty about where to find space. Much of their pass and catch was snatched and hurried and likely a combination of the pressure induced by the Crusaders and the occasion got inside their heads.
The Blues didn't play well. They didn't find solutions to the problems they faced, but while it was a bad night for the Blues, losing in the final doesn't mean it was a bad season.
They played some magnificent rugby at times in 2022. They were physical and beautiful in equal measure and they had a mental toughness about them that few teams could match.
They can't lose sight of how far they have come in the last 18 months and allow one painful loss to trick them into thinking they can't now be the team they want to be.
Losing in the final is a chance to reassess rather than rip up and radically redefine who they are and how they play.
What they have now is a painful memory stored in the system – one to push them that little bit harder next year and serve as their reminder that this is what made the Crusaders champions yet again.
The theme of their season, as coach Scott Robertson revealed, was stepping up: of being the best they could be when it mattered most.
This is precisely what the Crusaders did and precisely what the Blues must do next year: dig that bit deeper to ensure they can be that bit smarter when it matters most.
If they need some evidence that this is the best way to respond, they need only look back to the Hurricanes in 2015.
Like the Blues, the Hurricanes were almost unstoppable through the round-robin of 2015, losing just twice to secure a home final against the Highlanders.
Again like the Blues, the Hurricanes also failed to play the way they wanted in the final – producing their weakest performance of the campaign.
A year later and having been up and down in the road to the knockout rounds, the Hurricanes stormed to the title when they famously beat the Crusaders in Christchurch in the last qualifying game to leapfrog themselves from fourth to first and then deliver three clinical performances at home to be crowned champions.
The Hurricanes rebuilt from adversity as the Blues can also do. They will welcome back former captain Patrick Tuipulotu next year – a bruising presence to add ballast to the scrum and presence to their lineout.
They will hope that the 2.04m Sam Darry can take the next step into becoming a regular starter at lock so the incorrigible Tom Robinson can play more in the loose forwards and that Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, such an obvious talent, will learn so much in the next six months being with the All Blacks that he won't again look as gun shy as he did in the final.
Pain, however much it may not feel like it in the coming days, can be the Blues' friend: a welcome addition to their camp that inspires them to build on what they have started and bounce back with a renewed vengeance in 2023.
