KEY POINTS:
The Blues are brooding about retaining the role reversals for Nick Evans and Isa Nacewa in their chase for an unlikely Super 14 semifinal.
Coach David Nucifora had no regrets about the positional switch for the pair in the loss to the series leaders Crusaders and hinted the tactic might get another burst on Friday against the Reds in Brisbane. There would not be the same element of surprise but keeping Nacewa at five-eighths and Evans at fullback had been valuable in reworking the Blues' attack.
"We were happy with the way that it went and we will consider going down that path again," Nucifora said.
"We felt Isa's strength in organising and communicating worked very well for us and Nick's effort at fullback, where he got more space to attack; we felt those things went well and put the Crusaders under quite a bit of pressure."
The Blues kept their player switch a secret until just before kickoff against the Crusaders while they picked Taniela Moa for a first start at halfback, David Smith on the wing and Anthony Tuitavake at centre in a bid to stimulate their backline attack.
Nucifora said the mystery switch did not put extra pressure on Evans and Nacewa to revive the side's faltering campaign as they had trained there all week and were both very experienced versatile professionals.
"It was our best performance in a long time against the best team in the competition, certainly the best defensive team," he said.
For many, the mystery was why it took Nucifora and his assistant Greg Cooper so long to make changes as they muddled through the middle of their campaign. After their satisfaction with progress against the Crusaders, there will be bemusement if they alter their ideas in their latedesperate chase for the playoffs.
Maximum points from their last three games against the Reds, Highlanders and Hurricanes may not be enough to make the final four, but Nucifora pinpointed controlled attack rather than frothy football as the recipe for that stretch.
There were still many permutations left in the series.
"The last round could be interesting if we do what we need to in the next two games," he said.
More of the attacking threat the Blues showed in Christchurch and a shade more luck would be valuable.
"There was not much missing the other night.
"People have been asking about our attack in previous games but I think we were good in that. We made 15 line breaks to their eight, we just did not finish as we should have.
"We got back into the mould of being able to create and put pressure on in attack and we have got to build on that for three weeks. It was pleasing but frustrating. There are very small margins we deal with in this business and we can't afford little things [assistant referee and TMO decisions] to go against us when we play the best team in the business."
