Chris Rattue: Rough diamond Lavea worth polishing

Tasesa Lavea needs to be given every chance to work his skills into the Blues' gameplan. Photo / Getty Images

The Blues managed to turn a mess into a massacre last week and standing gloriously in the middle of this free-for-all was one of the most gifted passers of the ball in any of the football codes.

I copped a few sideways glances and sniggers previously on celebrating the return of Tasesa Lavea to the Blues.

And with good reason. He's no Dan Carter, and not even a Stephen Donald. He might even be a bit flaky, and prone to horror moments. He is injury-prone, we are told.

What Lavea is, though, is unique in a gifted way, which is something to be treasured in these days of bulked-up rugby robots smashing into each other forever and a day.

Anyone who can find a gap via the pass is a godsend and Lavea is better equipped to do that than most.

To go back to last week's match, judging the Blues' prospects by what they did to the Lions is hardly a sure bet. Having pushed the Chiefs to the limits the previous week, the Lions of Eden Park looked like the Lions of old, which is not a good thing.

If the Blues don't treasure the ball more than they did in the opening stages of that match, then they will be in major trouble on Friday night against the Highlanders, who have done a surprisingly fine job of winning respect this season.

New Blues coach Pat Lam has not been overly clear on who he rated as his top No 10, if indeed he wanted to confirm the vastly different talents of Lavea or Jimmy Gopperth in the position at all.

Lavea returned from injury against the Lions, and it was like a breath of fresh air.

I'll wager here that swapping his pivots around will never get Lam anywhere, and the first-year Blues coach needs to establish a stable core on which to build a future.

Lavea sees the pass as an art form. He can go to the line and float a ball flat, both long and short, putting players into holes or space on the outside. Now and then, if the decoys are doing their job, his passing ability should also create the opportunities for him to fool the defence and run. But he needs game time to develop these arts, and we may have to accept a few bloopers along the way.

Lavea needs to be given every chance to work his skills into the Blues' plan and the way rugby is played now. The rest of the Blues also need every chance to work around how he plays.

Yes, there may be risks involved. But the alternatives will mean the best the Blues can do is remain just another member of the pack.

It's not only in rugby that Lavea's gifts are sadly rare. League suffers a similar face in its new and frantic age.

League is well served by its highly animated commentators, men who could not only find the sight of two flies crawling up a wall exhilarating, but would reach similar heights watching two flies preparing to crawl up a wall.

Look at the actual game itself though, and what you quickly notice is a lack of anything other than your bog-standard passers. The stylists of old, such as Wally Lewis or Brad Fittler, or even a clever scrapper like Terry Lamb, have been replaced by pivots who are actually runners. There is plenty of heart-stopping action with the ball in league and the NRL is highly entertaining, but it also relies too heavily on grinding tactics followed by bombs, grubbers into the in-goal and kicks to leapers in the corners. Oh for another Wally Lewis.

Lavea was once a highly treasured rookie in league before his career went mysteriously wrong.

He's in a league of his own as a passer of the ball though and the Blues should forget any No 10 rotation theory and put the same horse out on every course.

I write this with some trepidation, because you also know that the way Lavea plays, some of these passes will go wrong. The theory could go pear-shaped, but let's still try to develop a peach.

Stuff the phase counters, error-rate merchants and territorial watchdogs who have turned football into mathematics. Let's go on an adventure in this case.

As I have written before, Auckland rugby has always been about more than winning. For all of its faults, it also stood for flair and class, a running game, with gifted footballers who on their day can tear anyone apart. It has produced wonderful eras, and many flat periods in between. But we kind of like it that way.

The day the tradesman Jimmy Gopperth turned up was a day for concern, because he doesn't fit the Auckland DNA. It's not that Gopperth can't play, but he doesn't play the Auckland way.

I'm prepared to risk the guffaws and sideways glances in heavily promoting Lavea, because he is worth the punt.

Since Carlos Spencer departed these shores, it's been impossible to look at the Blues without knowing that the best you can hope for is a slightly garbled version of rugby's standard training manual.

Lavea gives hope, not that the Blues will actually win the Super 14 this year, because they won't. He gives you hope that on turning up to Eden Park or flicking on the TV, you will see rugby out of the ordinary and inspiring to watch. Which is more than good enough for now, and might lead to a winning formula down the line.

* A great start to the season has fallen flat for the Warriors, but it could turn into a blessing in disguise if their injured troops return soon. The fringe players and new breed, particularly prop Russell Packer, have had to carry a bigger-than-expected burden and it could advance their development and pay big dividends towards the end of the season.

The good news for the Warriors is that despite a horrific injury toll, they have still put in creditable although not winning performances for the past three weeks. But the recent lineup, minus Steve Price, Manu Vatuvei and Lance Hohaia, isn't good enough to give the title a shake with a couple of other first-graders also missing long-term. And despite a trademark try from a Stacey Jones kick against Newcastle, I still don't believe that star turn Wade McKinnon is playing a big enough part in the Warriors game.

On that note, a Sydney newspaper has revealed shamed Manly star Brett Stewart is the try-scoring king among fullbacks in league history. Stewart averages a try in 84 per cent of matches, 20 per cent ahead of "Bouncing" Billy Slater. McKinnon has 14 in 32 games for the Warriors, a shade under 44 per cent. Statistics aren't everything of course, and players have different roles in different teams. But the numbers are food for thought.

* Do the ears deceive or did the television commentators at the Masters golf go distinctly cold, the Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson tent having folded and American Kenny Perry then failing to become the oldest winner of a major? The Masters winner, Argentinian Angel Cabrera, was a good enough story but the microphone mob didn't appear all that enthused on the final hole.

* Johnny Miller, a golfing great and a very fine commentator, didn't do Danny Lee any favours by promoting him as a title chance in the Masters. Lee wore a garish green shirt but he was never a chance to wear the fabled green jacket this year.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but the teenage amateur hardly needed the sort of pressure Miller put on him. He was entitled to enter his first Masters in easier circumstances than that.

IMG have got their young man, with Lee this week turning professional under their wing on a $17 million deal. It is going to be fascinating to see his career develop and he will surely challenge for major titles along the way. Our only recent major winner, Michael Campbell, had his head turned and his game ruined by fame and fortune but I can't see the determined Lee, a fanatic for practice, going the same way.