Rugby: Baffling Blues now low on the points table

Rene Ranger of the Blues dives for the tryline during a Super Rugby match between the Highlanders and the Blues. Photo / Getty Images

Close, but that's all for the Blues. Now it's a repeat debrief before their next match against the Reds.

A 30-27 defeat to the Highlanders in Dunedin meant the three-time champion franchise settled in the Super 15 cellar when the Lions swept past them with four points from their latest bye.

The result seemed to underline coach Pat Lam's recent defensive summary that there was a fine line between victory and defeat, although he conceded the Blues should be better.

No matter the reasons or excuses, the Blues have not been able to overturn their losing sequence since their bye when Lam and Co promised a revival.

They unpicked their game plans, tidied up their ideas and reset their plans and strategies for the rest of the series. The result? Three losses starting with the shabby defeat to the Rebels.

Mentally the Blues are shot. They hinted at some better moments against the Sharks and Highlanders but when the squeeze comes on they cannot face victory and claim it. Their only x-factor is x-tremely frustrating. They have worn their moments of refereeing misfortune like the fateful try they conceded in Dunedin when Kurt Baker shoved Rene Ranger out of the way and was awarded the touchdown. But the Blues have been playing modest rugby. Statistics reinforce their mediocrity.

The Blues are the only New Zealand side with a negative points differential. They have managed to score just 12 tries in eight games and have conceded 21 as they look at the results chart which shows they have a solitary win.

With eight more games left, they have equalled the lows of 2001 and 2006 and are stalking the franchise nadir when they lost eight times in Lam's initial season in 2009.

Defeat breeds apprehension, doubt seeps further into players' instincts and patterns become stilted. Finding remedies must seem like a mirage for the coaching crew.

This week the Blues host the Reds at Eden Park with the defending champions struggling with their lengthy injury list and in freefall with four defeats in their last five games.

They have had their five-eighths dramas with Quade Cooper and Sam Lane cut down by lengthy injuries, Mike Harris, Ben Lucas and Jono Lance injured for a stretch and Dallan Murphy seen as damaged goods. Second five Ben Tapuai has broken his collarbone and wing Digby Ioane is suspended.

However, "Aussie Mike" Harris has recovered and will bring his skills and goalkicking accuracy which the Blues rejected several years ago. Harris joined the Reds after four seasons at North Harbour and picked up the Reds rookie award last year as they claimed the Super 15 title.

Meanwhile, the Blues will begin another week wondering about their fate this Friday. They could have kicked a penalty to level their last match with the Highlanders but new captain Luke Braid chose to search for the winning try instead. The Blues were repelled and had to swallow their fifth consecutive loss.

This week, Lam will go through the will-he or won't-he selection scenario with halfback Piri Weepu to see whether he is best suited for a starting duel with Wallaby halfback Will Genia.