Rugby: Kiwis have mixed feeling over taking an enforced break

Jerome Kaino has battled injury. Photo / Greg Bowker

The bye. Some teams can't wait for the rest, others find it an impediment on the Super 14 journey.

The Blues and Highlanders offer that range of opinion as their campaigns take an enforced lull this weekend. Blues coach Pat Lam has welcomed the break for his besieged side, but Highlanders captain Jimmy Cowan is disappointed his team's progress, after they snapped the Bulls' unbeaten run, has reached a compulsory halt.

All five New Zealand franchises remain semifinal chances this season although one more defeat for the Blues, Highlanders or Crusaders would probably see them out of the mix.

The Highlanders and Blues with four defeats have suffered the most losses of New Zealand sides in the series but regular bonus points have kept them in touch with the leading quartet. However the Blues are battered and coach Lam has welcomed a break this round.

"The bye could not have come at a better time," he said after the latest 27-22 loss to the Waratahs.

When the Blues resume in a fortnight against the Lions, they hope to have loosehead prop Tony Woodcock, wing Rudi Wulf, flankers Josh Blackie and Justin Collins back from injuries and illness. What is unknown is the future for lock Ali Williams. The All Black damaged his Achilles tendon against the Waratahs and will have a further assessment of the injury this week. If the Blues are to figure in the May play-offs, they will need to ramp up their production and reduce their alarming error rate.

The problem axis of No 8, halfback and first five-eighths, which has spluttered for the Blues in recent seasons, is labouring again. Jerome Kaino has been battling a knee ligament strain, Taniela Moa has been mixed and Jimmy Gopperth has varied between very good and uncertain.

Elsewhere the scrum has faltered without Woodcock, they have been beaten to the looseball and they look like a group working out how each other plays. They are lacking rhythm.

Some like Anthony Tuitavake, Isaia Toeava, Chris Lowrey, Kurtis Haiu and Keven Mealamu have been potent but that is not a deep enough supply of form players. Time is disappearing to find a solution.

The Blues were the only New Zealand side to lose in the last round. It will niggle that they were defeated by an uninspiring Waratahs side for the first time at home in the Super series. Meanwhile the Sharks have skipped into the competition lead when they belted the Brumbies to celebrate their return to Durban after lengthy roadtrip.

The other hot side at the moment is the Chiefs who have rattled on more than 100 points in winning their last two matches against the Blues and Reds. Their forwards have fused into a very competent gang who have allowed their boiling backline to flourish.

The Highlanders would argue they have discovered their timing with successive wins against the Cheetahs and the Bulls and may claim a new cult following in Palmerston North after they successfully staged their latest match there.

Tousle-haired flanker Adam Thomson stood out for his relentless work in the 36-12 victory while captain Jimmy Cowan was another inspirational figure as he outshone his Springbok halfback adversary Fourie du Preez. "These boys [the Bulls] are known to be big bullies - they want to boss you around the field but our boys were up for that," Cowan said. His words acknowledged the work of men like Clint Newland, Tom Donnolly, Alando Soakai, George

Ngaoupu and Israel Dagg who were prominent among a swag of heroic Highlanders.

The Crusaders won, just, but have the best defence in the competition while the Hurricanes, with a game in hand, beat the Lions with a late scoring flurry.