KEY POINTS:
Coach David Nucifora got his wish when the Blues escaped injury and earned a bonus point victory in the start to Super 14.
Other teams were not so fortunate with their attrition rate as the opening round claimed Lucky Mulipola, Jamie Nutbrown, Zac Guildford, Bryan Habana, Chris Latham, Gene Fairbanks and Adam Ashley-Cooper among the victims.
While Nucifora knew he would be without Daniel Braid for the trip to South Africa as the star flanker continued his recovery from shoulder surgery, he was relieved there were no more mishaps against the Chiefs. At one stage burly No 8 Nick Williams felt a tender shoulder but there were no further dramas.
It was a relief for Williams to survive his first game in about six months after knee and shoulder damage.
"I had a couple of spells in a trial game against the Highlanders but that was all so I needed a real confidence-booster and I got that against the Chiefs," he said.
Williams opted to strengthen the area around his shoulder rather than undergo surgery which would have eliminated him from the Super 14 and a chunk of the national championship.
"It will need an operation at some stage but it feels okay now," he said.
Williams was prominent early in the Blues 32-14 victory and said he had been concentrating on finding space on the field rather than just "t-boning" opponents as the Blues sought out the best ways to use the experimental law variations.
"My lungs are hurting and I would be lying if I said I felt fine. That was tough work out there but the Chiefs are a very physical side and we had to match them. Our trainers have been working very hard with us on interval training and offloading skills and we are getting there.
"I have done a lot of road-running, a few half marathons and stuff to get us into condition to last for this series."
Nucifora felt the game became way too frenetic at times and asked his side to tighten their approach in the second half through their set piece dominance and tactical kicking from Nick Evans.
Early on the Blues were too impatient and too loose in their approach.
"You don't want to get sucked in by that so that is what was happening in the second half when we went back to being more structured," Nucifora said.
"When the game opens up we know we have the ability to play in those circumstances but we have got to put our focus on playing a controlled game."
