Blues v Reds: Time for Blues to walk the talk as Super Rugby Pacific title hopes slip away

Beauden Barrett and the Blues kicked too often against the Crusaders. Photo / Getty Images

At this point in their stuttering campaign, the Blues are yet to land a significant blow – leaving their title aspirations in free fall.

Those at the coalface are maintaining faith, though, by pushing the narrative the Blues are timing their run. The time to back up those sentiments is now.

Mandatory All Blacks rest weeks loom over the fifth-placed Blues three-week push to avoid spending the playoffs on the road. But regular stumbles against this year’s leading contenders – losses against the Crusaders (twice), Chiefs and Brumbies – have left them with everything to prove.

As the Blues attempt to rebound from a dispiriting defeat in Christchurch, where they gallantly defended but suffered through a malfunctioning lineout and incessant, wayward kicking that strangled their attack, four All Blacks will sit out their trip to Brisbane.

Rieko Ioane, Finlay Christie, Caleb Clarke and Ofa Tuungafasi are all absent on Friday night for the Reds, who handed the Chiefs their first defeat of the season last week. Influential captain Dalton Papali’i will also spend the next three weeks on the sideline following his suspension for his high shot on Richie Mo’unga.

“I think we decided to not fight it about two minutes after he did it,” Blues assistant Dan Halangahu said. “Look, there was no intent there and Dalts has a great record with these things which is why he got a reduction. But we’re all for things being safe. We’d hate to see one of the All Blacks 10s getting injured because of a mistake like that from Dalton so we’ll wear it and we know he needs to be better than that, but he’s played hundreds of games in his career and not done that.”

In either their final two regular season home games against the Hurricanes and Highlanders, the Blues are required to spell Beauden Barrett, too, despite the All Blacks playmaker already missing two matches this season – one through rest and the other through a late injury.

Fortunately for the Blues, Stephen Perofeta is expected to make a timely return from his shoulder injury next week.

While Halangahu offered no complaints with the rest protocols, he suggested other New Zealand rivals weren’t so content.

“Beauden is due one more rest but because he missed an earlier game he hasn’t played five in a row now. For the other guys who haven’t missed a game in this block they’re due so we’ve had to rest them. We understand why.

“It’s been two-way communication for a long time. Does Beauden need to rest during a Super season? Yes he does. People want to see him but people want the World Cup trophy in the cabinet a little bit more.

“We all want the All Blacks to be successful this year. Rieko, Mark Telea they play so much rugby and they don’t sub very often. We need to see common sense outside of that. I understand some guys with long-term injuries are still required to rest. I know that’s causing frustration for some teams – I won’t name names but it’s not in our camp. The All Blacks have been really up front so we knew it was coming, we planned for it.

“We’ve also got a lot of trust in the guys that come in. We’ve seen Adrian Choat step up and be our best performers despite not being part of that group.”

Akira Ioane presented with a mere after playing 100 games for the Blues last weekend. Photo / Photosport

With a quartet of All Blacks rested, the Blues have promoted Akira Ioane, AJ Lam, Bryce Heem and Sam Nock this week. Cameron Suafoa starts at lock after Sam Darry’s season-ending broken arm and after losing four lineouts against the Crusaders, this is an area the Reds are sure to target.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck makes his return but only as far as the bench with Harry Plummer retained at second five-eighths.

“After a broken hand and for a guy that hasn’t played heaps of rugby it was always going to take him a little bit to get back to his best,” Halangahu said of Tuivasa-Sheck. “We want to see that footwork and see him beating people. It’s up to us as a group to put him in those situations because we know when he’s in space he’s almost untouchable.”

To sneak inside the top four and secure a home quarter-final, the Blues are likely to need three-from-three against the Reds, Hurricanes and Highlanders to make up lost ground.

“We know there’s a bigger prize at the end so we’ve got to keep improving. If you compare it to this time last year we peaked about this time. This year we’re looking to peak a bit later and keep building our game.

“We want to see what everyone loves about the Blues: hard, tough rugby and getting our athletes in space. We know the crowd doesn’t turn up to see us kick the ball away. They want to see Akira, Rieko, Caleb and Mark running down the field. That’s our job but there’s a lot of hard work needed for that to come to fruition.”

Blues v Reds

Friday, 9.35pm, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane

Blues: Zarn Sullivan, Mark Telea, Bryce Heem, Harry Plummer, AJ Lam, Beauden Barrett, Sam Nock, Hoskins Sotutu, Adrian Choat, Akira Ioane, Cameron Suafoa, Patrick Tuipulotu (c), Marcel Renata, Ricky Riccitelli, Jordan Lay. Reserves: Kurt Eklund, Joshua Fusitu’a, Nepo Laulala/James Lay, James Tucker, Anton Segner, Taufa Funaki, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens.

Reds: Jock Campbell, Suliasi Vunivalu, Josh Flook, Taj Anna, Filipo Daugunu, Lawson Creighton, Tate McDermott (cc), Seru Uru, Fraser McReight, Liam Wright (cc), Angus Blyth, Connor Vest, Sef Fa’agase, Richie Asiata, George Blake. Reserves: Matt Faessler, Dane Zander, Zane Nonggorr, Ryan Smith, Harry Wilson, Louis Werchon, Tom Lynah, Mac Grealy.

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