Richard Loe: Too many of our top players look out of sorts

Joe Rokocoko - not quite good enough. Photo / Christine Cornege

There's an old joke about a dead cat and a doctor and I thought both games - the Hurricanes v Lions and Blues v Chiefs - were a bit of a dead cat last night.

The Hurricanes were woeful in the first half and I was struck by the look on coach Mark Hammett's face at halftime. He looked bewildered, poor chap. Like he didn't know what his team were doing.

They did better in the second half to win against a modest Lions outfit - but they were full of the same sort of lackadaisical stuff that has marked their whole season. When the Lions scored a try just before halftime, their fullback ran through Hosea Gear, Aaron Cruden and Cory Jane. Pathetic stuff.

At least they sorted themselves out towards the end of the game and they scored some tries that showed a bit of dash - but, man, they looked pretty sick before that. Lot of work still to do there.

In fact, even though the Chiefs game produced the right result, they deserved to win, both sides also looked well off their best.

The Blues have now lost three in a row and the showdown with the Crusaders will probably decide the New Zealand conference on Saturday. However, both they and the Chiefs looked flat; almost as if they are feeling the pace of a long competition. The Blues haven't fired for some time now. They go in dribs and drabs at the moment - with players firing in ones and twos but no sign of the combination and understanding you'd normally expect at this stage of the season.

Up front, the Chiefs had the edge in the scrums, Ali Williams is getting better and got some good ball but still isn't consistently impressing round the field. Jerome Kaino gave it his all but the Blues efforts were probably characterised by Joe Rokocoko's efforts these days - not quite good enough.

There were flashes here and there from Rene Ranger but the best man in the Blues backline was Jared Payne. He always straightened the line, found space and passed intelligently. But that was it. There was no real dash and danger from the Blues.

As for the first fives - Luke McAlister and Stephen Donald, I'd say they both played themselves out of the All Blacks last night. The Blues started out well, dominating territory and the game - but they just couldn't capitalise and it's damned hard to win when the chances aren't taken.

Donald helped them by missing kicks at goal at will and then McAlister started doing the same thing. Not good enough - and I still believe Colin Slade will be the man in the alternative 10 jersey come World Cup time.

The Chiefs won because they had the edge in the breakdowns, they defended very well and they just had that little bit more determination. Like Tana Umaga's try. He shouldn't have scored it really. He should have been brought down 5 metres out. But he was determined to get there.

The worry is that, across our three teams in those two games, most of our top players looked half-hearted and/or off their stroke. It's not a good sign coming into the finals and into the international season.

And then there's the Highlanders and those God-awful green jerseys...