Rieko Ioane has moved from the midfield to the wing as the injury-plagued Blues scramble to field a team to face the Highlanders. Photo / Photosport
Rieko Ioane has moved from the midfield to the wing as the injury-plagued Blues scramble to field a team to face the Highlanders. Photo / Photosport
The Blues are in the midst of a horrific injury crisis with 18 players unavailable and yet they have cobbled together what looks to be their best starting XV of the season.
Coach Tana Umaga has shifted Stephen Perofeta to fullback, put Rieko Ioane back to his All Blacks position of left wing and brought Bryn Gatland in at first-five to create a backline that has balance, pace, scoring power and a level head to deal with the decision-making when they take on the Highlanders on Friday night.
The pack has avoided a major makeover – looking mostly like it did by the end of the game against the Sunwolves and the Blues, against the odds, have managed to put together a team that should give them some chance of winning their first game at Eden Park this year.
Perofeta has looked more comfortable at fullback than he has at first-five and his natural running game could ignite the Blues' counter-attacking game which hasn't been viewed yet this season.
Unquestionably, though, the return of Ioane to the wing is the move that will be most likely to reshape the attacking potency of the Blues.
Umaga is convinced that Ioane's best position in the longer term will prove to be second-five and while that may end up being true, there is a feeling that for now, the Blues would get more from him if he had a roving commission on the wing.
Ioane has mostly been used in the midfield this year where he's been able to show he can be a direct, straight-running force and make good head-on tackles.
But while Ioane has hinted he is developing the skills to make the conversion in time, there would be happier faces in the Blues fan base if they were watching him use his electric pace to beat defenders on the outside.
That the Blues can be considered even a moderate chance of winning is of some relief to Umaga who is experiencing the worst injury crises of his Blues' tenure.
He's had to scour far and wide to make up the bench.
Injuries are part and parcel of the modern game, a curse that all teams have to deal with but to have more than half the squad unavailable is unusual.
The Chiefs suffered a similar toll to the Blues earlier in the year and Umaga is not sure if these can be attributed to bad luck or whether they are a consequence of the game's increased physicality.
Tana Umaga's team need a win if they are to have any chance of turning their season around. Photo / Photosport
What's also maybe a little unusual is the nature of the injuries as most are relatively serious with broken bones and ripped ligaments.
But however thrown together the Blues may be, Umaga says that can't be allowed to become any sort of an excuse or distraction ahead of a game that the Blues simply have to win if they are to retain any hope of turning their season around.
"We are home at Eden Park in front of our fans and our families for the next few games," said Umaga. "We want to make this our fortress in the coming weeks starting on Friday.
"All of the clubs have injuries and we are no different. But it gives opportunities for other players to stand up and bring some real enthusiasm to our team.
"We have improved over the last two weeks and once again we have to step up again to another level in every facet of our game.
"Our record against other New Zealand teams is well documented so we want to make to make our homecoming a special one."
