Justin Marshall: The Blues' tight five hold the key

Today, ahead of a crunch game against the Hurricanes, I want to talk about the Blues' tight five and how they could hold the key for victory.

It's a great rugby cliche that it all starts up front, and, to a degree, that is dead right. Unless you have a strong set piece and your forwards can deliver quality ball, it's going to be a tough night.

The technical aspect of the tight five I want to talk about is how the Blues can improve their balance up front. The Hurricanes are a good team to compare them with because they are getting it right.

Their combination between their tight five - guys like Ben Franks, Dane Coles, Mark Abbott, James Broadhurst and Co - and their loosies Brad Shields, Ardie Savea and Victor Vito - set up their expansive game perfectly. Look at how often Franks carries ball, for example.

In saying that, no player is more important here for the Canes than Dane Coles. He isn't a traditional hooker, who might smash it up close to the ruck like a Bismarck du Plessis, he is in outside the channels, often finishing off movements on the wing. He has great footwork and pace and the Hurricanes use him well, as they do the rest of their forwards.

Lock Jeremy Thrush is on the bench tonight, but his roving role with the Canes last year really promoted his game and got him to the point where he was demanding starts with the All Blacks - great for him and his team. In general, all of their tight five have the ability to combine their core roles with the wider skills a tight forward must have.

The Blues, however, haven't adapted or have that synergy yet, in my opinion. Last weekend in their defeat to the Lions I guess the ball was a bit slippery so they might have decided to play a bit tighter, but I believe their season hinges on a tight five becoming more unpredictable.

They should be encouraged to link with their backs, to give themselves a bit more width on attack - slightly wider outside first or second receiver. They have some great ball runners in Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu and Keven Mealamu - they have all the skills but maybe they're not using them enough.

In short, their tight five must be encouraged to be more expansive. I think while their scrum was a bit wobbly last week, their platform is pretty good overall, but the balance isn't quite right. If their front five can do that a bit more then their loose forwards can get into the game more rather than being relied upon carrying all the weight in terms of running with the ball.

There are murmurs that the Blues want to keep the ball in hand tonight, but that in itself won't fix their problems. It's how you use it that counts and for me that will be one of the more fascinating developments in Palmerston North.