Rugby: Rare Blues triumph comes at heavy cost

Akira Ioane scored a brilliant individual try. Photo / Getty Images

Key pair Kaino and Piutau may be out for season after being hurt in win over Force.

Typical Blues - they double their win tally for the season by beating the Force and unearth a real gem in the form of Akira Ioane, only to have their success tarnished by the injuries to their best players, Jerome Kaino and Charles Piutau.

Both could be gone for the rest of the season.

Kaino's injury was gruesome - a compound fracture of his left ring finger with the bone coming out of the skin - which could see him gone for up to eight weeks.

And Piutau's was familiar - medial ligament damage to his left knee, the same injury to the same joint that he suffered last year which put him out of the game for two months. He is unlikely to feature in any of the Blues' remaining five games of the season.

Coach John Kirwan will be preparing to do without his fullback, but skipper and loose forward Kaino is still a chance to return after his freak injury, which was caused when he got his finger caught in Force wing Nick Cummins' jersey.

"It was a bit numb to start off with but then when the doctor tried to wiggle it back in place, that's when the pain started coming," Kaino said. "It's the first time I've ever experienced something like this. I'll hope for the best when the x-rays come through."

Those were the two major casualties for the Blues during their mixed 41-24 victory over the Force, but there are others. Keven Mealamu was the only Blues' player to leave the field for a tactical substitution -- all the others, including first-five Dan Bowden, had something wrong with them. A busy night for the team's medics is likely to continue this week ahead of their match against the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday.

There was much to like about the Blues' victory after a turgid opening 20 minutes, but the 40 points they put on the visitors from Western Australia, the worst team in the competition, was probably a par score. The 24 they let in would have disappointed Kirwan.

One change which he should make is replacing veteran halfback Jimmy Cowan with Jamison Gibson-Park. Cowan did well to put wing Melani Nanai over for the first try, but too often his laboured delivery put Bowden and the rest of his backs under pressure.

A big positive was the performance of 19-year-old flanker Ioane, who was outstanding -- his try from halfway was brilliant in its execution and audacity.

Iaone, understandably, is a target for the New Zealand Under-20s, which means he will probably miss the Blues' final few games of the season, but in the meantime Blues supporters have something at least to be optimistic about.

He is also bringing out the best in Steven Luatua, who will likely slot into Kaino's No8 position against the Rebels.

Kirwan said afterwards: "Pretty special, eh? I thought he stepped up again tonight. We wanted to get him in the game early ... we're giving him licence like he does in the sevens. We're keeping him out a bit wider so he can create mis-matches. He's excelling at it. But the thing I liked was what he was doing in the tight. Working hard, making tackles, just being physical.

"He's got a good teacher too. Jerome [Kaino] has really taken him under his wing and raised the expectations around him."