Dylan Cleaver: Foster followed by his own black cloud

Chiefs coach Ian Foster. Photo / Getty Images

Right now, Ian Foster must feel like Joe Btfsplk, the Li'l Abner character permanently accompanied through life by a dark cloud.

Wherever Joe walks, rain and misfortune follow.

The same could be said for Foster and the Chiefs, but whereas fate guides Joe's bad luck, the Chiefs were the architects of their own misfortune against the Blues.

Not with the weather, of course. That curse is uncanny and is playing havoc not only with the Chiefs' gameplan, but the balance sheet.

A smidgen more than 9000 people paid to watch the SH1 derby on Saturday night. Under normal circumstances you would expect close to twice that for a game against the Blues. That follows small crowds against the Rebels (5500) and the Sharks (8428), the latter game also badly affected by miserable conditions.

While the weather plays a role - as does the surfeit of rugby and, at a franchise with a large rural fanbase, the unattractiveness of Saturday night rugby - you don't need a focus group to tell you a winning team has a better chance of drawing in the punters.

Unfortunately, the Chiefs have become adept at finishing second in close races. The gritty win against the Sharks threatened to signal a change of course, but they were back in runner-up position against the Blues.

They didn't deserve to win, but they could have, which is why you have to question some of their thinking in the second half.

In a game that required cool heads and, most importantly, discipline, why did they replace Brendon Leonard with the mercurial Taniela Moa?

Moa is an explosive runner, but not a decision maker. It surprised few that it was his penalty gift that saw Luke McAlister kick the three points to break the 13-13 deadlock.

(On a wider level, what has happened to the impressive Tawera Kerr-Barlow, who can no longer make the 22?)

It would be unfair to pin this one all on Moa and the bench decisions. Just as pivotal to the result was the penalty awarded against one of the Chiefs' loosies, possibly Scott Waldrom, for flopping on the wrong side of the ruck when a great kick-chase had the Blues pinned inside their five-metre area with the sideline their only option.

Meanwhile, up in the box, there was been a dark cloud forming over the coach's head.