The Crusaders win the Super Rugby finals, victory for the Black Ferns and the Warriors get mauled by the Panthers: Cheree Kinnear gives you the weekend of sport.
Video / Sky Sport / Photosport / Spark Sport
The Blues did their best to project brave faces but after being humbled on their home patch, the pain of losing the maiden Super Rugby Pacific final is sure to linger.
Saturday's 21-7 loss to the Crusaders graphically illustrated the notion that form is temporary, class permanent.
While the Blues'15-match unbeaten surge this season counted for nothing in the big dance, the experience of claiming six titles in the past six years rang true for Scott Robertson's Crusaders.
From the outset, the Blues were well off the pace.
Outsmarted and out muscled in the set piece, beaten to the punch at the breakdown, increasingly overpowered at the scrum, the Crusaders schooled the Blues forward pack to nullify Beauden Barrett and leave his potent backline threats playing off a dysfunctional platform.
Many of the issues started at the lineout where constant pressure from Sam Whitelock and Cullen Grace evoked a horror case of the yips to steal half of the Blues lineout ball – nine of 19 throws.
The Blues simply had no answers for that all-consuming pressure.
Dejected Blues team watch the presentations. Photo / Getty Images.
"It was like they had our playbook, they were reading our play and causing a lot of trouble there," Blues coach Leon MacDonald lamented. "We tried variations but we were unable to get quality ball to launch off. The scrum was similar too so we felt we were living off scraps and weren't able to apply any form of positive pressure through our kicking game.
"Ten missed lineouts is hard to live off - it's as simple as that really. It's hugely disappointing that it happened in a final.
"We were unable to play the way we wanted. They've obviously been in a few finals. They knew how to do it well and they did."
Set piece dominance allowed Richie Mo'unga and David Havili to control the contest, to pin the Blues deep in their half and suffocate the locals as an expectant capacity crowd slowly watched hopes of a first title in 19 years fade before their eyes.
That the Blues could not score until the 59th minute, when All Blacks halfback Finlay Christie snuck over after forcing an error at the back of the scrum from Grace, speaks to the Crusaders' dominance.
As he reflected on one of the worst performances of the season from the Blues, MacDonald admitted the occasion proved overwhelming for some.
"Tonight was a big learning curve. The whole week was significantly different dealing with the hype of this game. For some guys it was a really new experience. If you haven't played a lot of test rugby you've got to experience it to be able to learn how to deal with it. Some guys will have some lessons from this week but, overall, you can't fault the effort throughout this year. There's some guys hurting in the changing sheds as you'd expect."
Blues players look on in disappointment after the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific Final match between the Blues and the Crusaders. Photo / Getty Images.
Barrett experienced the hurt of losing the 2015 Super Rugby final with the Hurricanes, before returning the following year to right that wrong and claim the Wellington franchise's first title.
Seeing past the disappointment of defeat was difficult but Barrett hopes the Blues will bottle the hurt and return hungry to make amends.
"They spoiled our flow and tempo so it was certainly frustrating," Barrett said. "There was no one clear moment but a combination of set piece pressure. We couldn't get into our game. Whenever we did get going it wasn't on our terms, we were forced to make a bit of stuff up. We've got to give them credit, their defence was impressive and good enough to win it.
"You've got to let it happen, you can't fight it. As long as we stick together, we learn, it's a great group of lads we've got. We'll stick tight in the next couple of days and come back stronger next year, I'm sure.
"Our record is pretty good this season. It lacks finals experience and we'll learn a lot from this one. We can hold our heads up high from the season we've had but we'll certainly remember this feeling we're feeling right now."
Performances in the tense semifinal, where they were fortunate to escape against the Brumbies at Eden Park last week, and against the Crusaders demonstrate the Blues have plenty to learn about how to handle finals pressure.
With All Blacks prop Karl Tu'inukuafe the only confirmed departure from this year's squad, MacDonald hopes the crushing final defeat will sow the seeds to go one better in 2023.
"As a group we can still be really proud of what was a bloody good season for the Blues. Our record shows we've made some good progress but tonight it shows there's still some work to be done," MacDonald said.
"Other than a couple of exceptions it's still a young squad. At times the maturity and leadership they showed exceeded their age.
"You've got to take the good with the bad. If you win you want to come back and do it again. When you lose it's a stone in your shoe that doesn't go away. We've got a group who can win a competition, I've got no doubt about that. It wasn't for us this year but we'll be back next year and we'll be pretty hungry."
