Sleepless Blues beat sickness but season still terminal

Luke McAlister catches the defence unaware as he runs determinedly for his try. Touchline / Getty Images

Blues 34
Cheetahs 33

The Blues survived food poisoning and a final conversion to send the Cheetahs to their second single-point defeat in a week.

Both sides staggered from the field after a nine-try freewheeler in Bloemfontein, the Blues battling to deal with the effects of a match-day bug while the Cheetahs were struggling to comprehend their repeat ill-fortune.

Eventually the blemish-free goal-kicking of Luke McAlister proved the difference.

He goaled all five of his attempts and Isa Nacewa another, while the Cheetahs missed five shots at goal.

Their last failure was the most damaging.

The siren had sounded when Meyer Bosman dragged his conversion attempt wide after hooker Tiaan Liebenberg had scored the Cheetahs' fifth try.

Coach David Nucifora applauded the Blues' courage, saying they had barely slept the night before the match and were still sick on the morning of the game.

"If the kick had gone over I would have felt for them. If only people knew the state they were in this morning they would understand what a brave effort that was," he said.

After a comprehensive beating last week from the Sharks, the Blues were staring at another defeat in a game which provoked reminders of the looser defensive times in the days of Super 12.

Four times the Blues overhauled their opponents before it seemed they would be thwarted in the last play of the match.

Instead, when Bosman botched his kick, the Cheetahs were left lamenting the same result and the same margin in a week when they travelled from Hamilton to Bloemfontein.

McAlister's 17-point haul was a huge component in the Blues' victory. He kicked superbly - even if it seemed a little obsessive in general play - and he was helped by speedy service from new halfback Junior Poluleuligaga.

Finally left wing Joe Rokocoko scored his first Super 14 try from a late scrum move which should have sealed the victory.

Instead they were forced to endure the late Cheetahs' surge as they ran out of gas and ideas on closing out the game.

Jerome Kaino's return to the Blues was impressive.

His side-stepping kick return in the first half created McAlister's try, while his angled run on to a short ball and transfer in traffic to Nacewa delivered another.

They were the sort of skills which nudged Kaino in the direction of the All Blacks two years ago and a glimpse of the talented technique which has been absent from the Blues this season.

Brent Ward, Nacewa, Nick Williams, Greg Rawlinson and the front row were also prominent in a match which had plenty of enterprise but lacked a great deal of shape.

The Blues travel to Johannesburg this week for their match against the Cats before their final pool match at Eden Park against the Chiefs.