Cheetahs 36
Blues 32
Bloemfontein is known as the City of Roses but the Blues left the Highveld sniffing the stench of defeat after a wretched performance.
They fell to a Cheetahs side which had made an exhausting journey home from Hamilton, lost more players to injury and had minimal preparation.
While the Blues had modest results again this season, they should have had more clout than their hosts.
They were outsiders to make the playoffs, but when three teams above them stalled on the points table, the Blues should have used that to spur themselves to victory. Instead they delivered another erratic production.
"We just made too many mistakes really and you can't get your game going with that. We had no roll-on from the get-go," stand-in captain Jerome Kaino said.
The Cheetahs scored five tries from a swag of elementary errors by the Blues. Sloppy marking, poor decisions, inattention and careless control cost the visitors as they slumped to successive defeats on their trip to South Africa.
"We went into this game determined to look after the ball and apply pressure. We started the game by dropping the ball and they capitalised. They scored tries and points off our mistakes," coach Pat Lam conceded.
The Blues hold a spotty five wins and six losses on their results chart. The coaching staff seem unable to wring consistency from this year's group of players. They talk about improvement, but the Blues continue to be rugby recidivists.
Lam tried to make it sound as though his side had been unfortunate this year. A more pragmatic assessment would be that improving sides make their own luck.
"Looking through the whole season there have been a lot of what-ifs ... costly intercepts and dropped possessions," Lam said.
When he looks through the latest statistics from yesterday's match they will have a pungent whiff about them.
The Blues had a 65 per cent tackling success rate, they turned over possession regularly at kickoffs, lineouts, rucks, mauls and general play.
Stephen Brett goaled five from eight attempts as his side became just the third victim this season for the Cheetahs.
Grisly moments outweighed golden touches. However halfback Alby Mathewson continued his strong work, Kaino and Filo Paulo slogged away in the tight, Paul Williams was a hardworking fullback and Isaia Toeava had a variety of neat touches.
He ran on to Benson Stanley's break in the first spell and then provided the cut and flip pass for Rene Ranger to strike after halftime.
Mathewson squirted across the chalk after being denied minutes earlier by a TMO with a white cane, and the Blues had the lead for the first time.
That advantage lasted barely a minute. What should have been a catalyst for victory turned to custard.
The Blues botched the next play and as their defences failed to regroup, Philip van der Walt bashed across for a converted try and a lead the Cheetahs never relinquished.
The Blues now head for Johannesburg and a reunion with their old star first five-eighths Carlos Spencer who is running around with the winless Lions.
They have two matches - against the Blues and Cheetahs - to try and claim one triumph this season. Any bets?
