Rugby: Blues in drive to balance the books

Rene Ranger will resume his midfield alliance with Benson Stanley. Photo / Getty Images

No excuses full stop. That has to be the Blues' motto for their final tour match in South Africa tomorrow against the Lions.

This is a Lions side without a win in this year's Super 14, a team who can score tries but whose defence has more leaks than a 90s Auckland house.

This is a game where the Blues can staunch their losing streak in the republic and balance their motley record at six wins and losses with a match against the Chiefs to run.

Inquests about the campaign will follow, about what progress has occurred when the coaching staff stayed intact except for abandoning longtime baggage man Spy Kelly.

The Blues finished ninth last season with five wins.

They have equalled that number of victories so far and played better but so have other sides.

Coach Pat Lam explained his backline switches to return the midfield alliance of Rene Ranger next to Benson Stanley, which delivered a domino effect.

He was confident the changes would not create any problem as his back four had all moved during the season.

"We need to finish strongly on this tour and everyone is determined to get this right," Lam said.

If things go pear-shaped tomorrow in Johannesburg, it will confirm another wretched series for the Blues in a season where they have had successive victories only against the Highlanders and Reds.

Motivation would not be an issue, Lam said, even though his side believed they should have claimed three wins in South Africa.

Their standards had fallen drastically last week against the Cheetahs and they had to redress those flaws tomorrow.

They were without injured opensider Tom Chamberlain and captain Keven Mealamu, who had a calf muscle strain. He hoped to be fit for the final game against the Chiefs.

"The medical staff said it would be high risk of more permanent damage which would put him out for a while [so] we thought the sensible thing was not to put him out there," Lam said.

The Blues needed to change their style and lower their error rate for this final tour game.

Those targets meant some positional alterations the selectors hoped would bring more spark and accuracy.

BLUES VS LIONS
Johannesburg, 1am Sunday 9th May

LIONS
Carlos Spencer
T. Chavhanga
D. van Rensburg
Walter Venter
Michael Killian
Herkie Kruger
Jano Vermaak
Derick Minnie
Wikus van Heerden
C. Grobbelaar (c)
F. van der Merwe
George Earle
Gert Muller
Charles Emslie
JC J. van Rensburg

BLUES
Isaia Toeava
Joe Rokocoko
Rene Ranger
Benson Stanley
Paul Williams
Daniel Kirkpatrick
Alby Mathewson
Peter Saili
Serge Lilo
Jerome Kaino (c)
Anthony Boric
Kurtis Haiu
John Afoa
Tom McCartney
Tony Woodcock

RESERVES
Lions: Hannes Franklin, Heinke van der Merwe, Nico Luus, Justin Wheeler, Jacques Coetzee, Jacob Johannes Taute, Bernardo Botha

Blues: Tevita Mailau, Charlie Faumuina, Filo Paulo, Vilami Ma'afu, Chris Smylie, Stephen Brett/George Pisi, Anthony Tuitavake