Super Rugby: Ranger on road back to Blues

Rene Ranger has been trying to get out of his contract with Montpellier for some time. Photo / Getty Images

After poor start, JK's men could do with explosive midfielder this season, not next.

The news of Rene Ranger's return to the Blues was given extra poignancy yesterday, released as it was straight before coach John Kirwan was effectively asked to defend his side's poor start to the season to the media.

The Blues are winless after three games, with poor discipline and bad execution big reasons for their defeats to the Chiefs, Stormers and Cheetahs. Another is the lack of backline firepower, Charles Piutau, who will remain at centre for the near future, apart.

Ranger, playing for Montpellier, isn't the biggest centre or outside back, but his explosiveness makes him a threat every time he gets the ball. How Kirwan and the Blues could do with him for the remainder of this season rather than from the start of the next one.

Kirwan stayed on message yesterday, saying his team were close to cracking their first win of the season -- and they surely will against the Lions, who arrived from Johannesburg yesterday, a day after the Blues arrived home from South Africa.

He maintained his team are in "really good shape", but the reality is they could play their way out of contention over the next four matches.

The Hurricanes are looming, as are the Waratahs and Chiefs; all away.

On this evidence the Blues will struggle in all three.

Kirwan, however, said he believed the Blues were preparing and playing better than last year when they finished 10th.

"Discipline one week and execution the following week [have been problems]. We just need to put a performance together and if we do that we'll be fine."

An extra motivating factor will be Keven Mealamu's milestone in playing his 163rd Super Rugby match, an individual record and one better than the now retired Nathan Sharpe. Another is the celebration of Jerome Kaino's 100th match achieved last weekend in Bloemfontein.

A victory over the Lions, who are also yet to win this season, could be just the tonic for Kirwan's men. The return to a cohesive and threatening running game will be another. The Blues, who normally possess some of the best attacking talent in the competition, have scored only three tries this season.

So, good news about 28-year-old Ranger, who has been trying to get out of his contract for some time, as revealed in the Herald in October, but a pity it's not until next year, when he will start in the ITM Cup with North Harbour, rather than Northland.

Kirwan said yesterday: "He hasn't been particularly happy in France and he's always wanted to come home.

"It probably started as soon as he signed -- he signed a little bit prematurely."

Ranger, who said he was returning for family reasons, even had some criticisms of his own for the Blues: "They are a quality side, but execution is letting them down so far. Hopefully I can play a positive role because backs get excited with the sort of front-foot ball the Blues are getting."

• Three-test All Black and Crusaders utility back Tom Taylor has signed a three-year deal with French rugby club Bayonne.