Photos: Super 14 kicks offKEY POINTS:
A narrow green strip about 25 metres long was the only real evidence that 24 hours earlier an international cricket match took place on this 'hollowed' ground.
At 10pm on Friday, while the likes of Jacob Oram and Paul Collingwood were still conducting post-match interviews, a huge transporter that looked like a prop left over from The Empire Strikes Back crept onto the ground with the large chunk of turf. Out came the cricket pitch, in went the rugby turf.
It was such an impressive performance New Zealand Cricket head doctor Gary Hermansson was out there with his camera recording the event for posterity.
Hermansson might have been better employed inside the head of Josevata Rokocoko, trying to get to the bottom of this rugby enigma.
In a game that featured trying to get to the bottom of New Zealand rugby's latest malaise - dreadful finishing - Rokocoko provided the cutting edge so often missing.
This, too, from a man who barely featured in last year's corrupted competition, who doesn't show up unless it's a test match.
Last night he looked in great nick, with three decisive acts in a 10-minute second-half spell enough to seal the match for the Blues.
First he chased down and broke up a Chiefs attack created from nothing from fellow Fijian flyer Sitiveni Sivivatu (who, it must be noted, has come back from holiday sporting a terrific slug on his top lip). A minute later Rokocoko was making his own break, creating Troy Flavell's try even if the final transfer owed more to luck than good management.
Then, on the hour, he applied his own finishing touches, breaking the line from a set move and scoring under the posts, his trademark Superman leap and beaming smile back after a 2007 in which he had very little to feel happy about.
This was a match that should have had a scoreline of 35-all before the hour was up, such was the frantic pace, the willingness of both sides to run the ball and the number of missed tackles.
Yet, whenever it came time for somebody to provide the cutting edge, the final thrust that would lead to a five-pointer, nobody - aside from Rokocoko - was willing to stick their hands up.
The Blues ended with a bonus point that was just about deserved, though coach David Nucifora, a man famously intolerant of inaccuracy, might have felt they should have had the point secured before halftime.
Twenty-four hours earlier, New Zealand were blown off Eden Park by an England team that began fighting like a cornered animal. It's fair to say there was no such desperation last night - it's still February for goodness sake.
But what we did have was a player seeking a certain amount of redemption. He's got a way to go but Joe Rokocoko will feel like he's flying in the right direction.
