KEY POINTS:
The Blues have been trying to avoid looking at the Super 14 rugby points table ahead of their match against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane tonight.
But there could be an even bigger distraction with the announcement yesterday that coach David Nucifora is leaving at the end of the present campaign.
Nucifora has decided not to pursue the option of another year with the Blues, and will return to Australia.
Nucifora, who has been linked with a role in the Australian Rugby Union's high performance unit, cited family reasons for the move, including the fact that he had children about to start high school. A Super rugby title winner with the Brumbies, Nucifora took the Blues to the semifinals last year in his second season as coach.
Their prospects of repeating the feat this year are looking slim after three successive losses have dropped them to eighth spot, six points out of the top four.
The players have expressed a belief that the playoffs remain a realistic possibility and they plan to chase maximum points over the remaining three rounds.
Nucifora indicated this week that such a target did not equate to throwing caution to the wind.
Lack of structure would make it more difficult to build sustained pressure, which he saw as a prerequisite for keeping the scoreboard ticking over.
"There's not a team in this competition that's poor enough that you can go willy-nilly at them," he said. "You have to be organised and you will only accumulate points by applying continual pressure, so we're not going to get misled by the circumstances or the points table with regard to how we need to play."
Nucifora has not bothered to bring out the calculator to work out what other results the Blues needed to go their way to keep their semifinal ambitions alive. "We have to win three games and the bonus points are important to us as well."
Nucifora has kept the same 22 who put up a spirited challenge to competition leaders the Crusaders last weekend.
He has made one change to the starting 15, bringing All Blacks utility Isaia Toeava back at second five-eighths and giving Benson Stanley a spell on the bench.
The Reds are out of contention for the playoffs, but have been in good form over the past fortnight.
They will again be without skipper and halfback Sam Cordingley and fullback Chris Latham, who are still on the casualty list.
Loose forward John Roe will also be missing after suffering a shoulder injury against the Chiefs. His replacement is Scott Higginbotham, who makes the run-on side for the first time.
Winger Digby Ioane and prop Dayna Edwards, who impressed against the Chiefs, have been rewarded with spots in the starting 15.
- NZPA
