Rugby: Blues need to play smarter

Blues coach Pat Lam during a Blues training sessiony training session. Photo / Brett Phibbs

If the Blues start with some venom tomorrow against the Crusaders at Eden Park, it should give them a strong impetus for the revamped competition.

Success is a fading art for the Blues. It has been seven years since Xavier Rush held the Super Rugby silverware aloft to salute the climax to a superb season.

The Blues were bested just once in that 2003 season when they had a mid-programme stumble against the Highlanders. Otherwise they were too good wherever they went. There were some close calls and the title decider was a narrow 21-17 decision against the Crusaders.

But the Blues were in sync that year, they were cohesive and they succeeded. Those were the days.

Since then it has been a series of slides, although there was a moment of hope in 2007 when they made the playoffs but stalled in their semifinal.

The coaching staff has changed from Peter Sloane to David Nucifora to Pat Lam but the end of season verdict has remained constant. No silverware to add to that night in late May 2003 when Rush brandished the trophy to signal the Blues' supremacy.

Six Blues players involved in the final - forwards Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock, Ali Williams, Brad Mika and Daniel Braid alongside a solitary back Joe Rokocoko - are suiting up again this season. So is their technical adviser from that season, though Graham Henry has a much more high-profile and high-pressure campaign to deal with at the end of this season.

The remarkably durable Mealamu has risen to captain the side as he became the first player to push past 100 games for the Blues while also fulfilling a critical role for the All Blacks. Test prop Tony Woodcock is set to become the second player to reach that mark this season, while at the other end of the scale there are seven men set to play their first games for the Blues.

Well, there were seven until lock Liaki Moli succumbed to a shoulder injury, leaving Luke Braid, Sherwin Stowers, Ash Dixon, Mathew Luamanu, Tony Morland and Jared Payne to grab their first jersey honours.

The Blues have the core of last year's squad returning for action this year and coach Pat Lam has made consistently strong noises about his confidence in the squad to perform and break the seven-year glitch. Lam believes his side can make the playoffs and for him to continue in a job he clung on to this season, he and his staff will need to make that sort of impact.

It may be more difficult this year.

The winner of the New Zealand conference will qualify automatically for the playoffs but if the other sides mess up regularly, they may all miss out on the finals if results from Australia and South Africa go against them.

If the Blues start with some venom tomorrow against the Crusaders at Eden Park, it should give them a strong impetus for the revamped competition. They will leave for South Africa with the confidence they can give the series a decent shake.

Those who ask about the Blues chances this season may as well ask you for the Lotto numbers as well. Sure they have a clutch of highly credentialled players, many who will give the World Cup squad a shake. But they have had similar calibre men since 2003 and done little to suggest further honours.

A fit Ali Williams will help but the lock's ability to return to the same levels of excellence he attained before his Achilles tendon injuries remain conjecture. He has the drive and will to succeed, the question is whether his body will respond.

Openside looseforward Daniel Braid's return will help the spine of the team where All Black halfback Alby Mathewson is back.

If there has been some doubt about the side in recent years it has been through the numbers 7-10, the nerve centre where there have been some serious performance variations. Five eighths Stephen Brett has signed on for a repeat tour which should give added cohesion with Mathewson, while the coaching staff will be looking for greater solidity at No 8.

Chris Lowrey gets first dibs and has clawed back some form which was undermined by ill-health and injury, while Luamanu as an impact sub may also surprise. If this hub of the side functions and the Blues play with some intelligence and patience, they have a cluster of attacking clout to hurt any opposition.

It has been that way since 2003 though and...