KEY POINTS:
Blues coach David Nucifora is circumspect in his public utterances. He retained that composure yesterday but it was clear he was irritated at some of the Super 14 refereeing.
He refused to wade into the officials - unlike his old mate Eddie Jones - but said enough to signal his displeasure, an impression reinforced by his captain.
"Eddie was probably voicing what a lot of people are thinking so, you know, good on him," Troy Flavell said.
Nucifora and Jones go back a fair way as players then coaches with the Brumbies and will duel again on Saturday at Eden Park when the Blues hosts the Reds.
In the last two rounds of the series, Jones has tested the patience of Sanzar officials by lambasting referees for unfairly penalising his stronger scrum. Those outbursts did not surprise Nucifora.
"I am sure you guys understand this is a very frustrating job at times and you put up with a lot of things,' Nucifora said yesterday.
He did not entirely agree with Jones' scrum assessment and was more concerned that, in successive games, referee Jonathan Kaplan had scarcely penalised the Blues' opponents.
The Brumbies and Hurricanes had been penalised only four or five times which was a "fairly outrageously low number".
The frustration for the Blues had escalated because they felt they were getting penalised while their rivals were getting away with the same offences.
Nucifora was disappointed his side could not draw a penalty from the Hurricanes in the last long passage of play and was bewildered by statistics which showed the Hurricanes conceded two penalties in the last half while the Brumbies, the week before, had not yielded a penalty in the first 50 minutes of that game.
"In the last five minutes [against the Hurricanes] there were probably five opportunities for penalties," he said. "We were frustrated with the referee at times and we felt we did not get the best end of the deal."
However, he accepted the Blues had to tighten their performances and their work in the contact areas had to be much more precise.
"We did not clean out well enough at the breakdown, we need to start winning the collisions, we have got to get over the advantage line, make the play and keep our structure," Flavell said.
Under Jones' tutelage the Reds have shown some decent clout with their pack but they have rarely deviated from a narrow gameplan because of the lack of backline flair. The suspension of Lloyd Johansson and possible injury absence of Peter Hynes will further hamper their midfield.
"The Reds look like they are getting back to their traditional attitude of fronting up and playing tough," Nucifora said.
Any changes to the Blues will not be revealed until later this week but there could be a change at fullback and possibly a loose forward shuffle.
