By CHRIS LAIDLAW
Those of us who watched the Blues puncture the pride of Wellington on Friday night last week had an awful sense of deja vu.
The unstoppable speed, strength and inventiveness that has been so conspicuously absent for several years seemed all of a sudden to be back.
The Blues' first 40 minutes was the best sustained burst of imposed superiority I have seen this season, and that is saying something, because there have been some comprehensive demolition jobs so far, not least those conducted by the Hurricanes themselves.
The difference between those and this, however, was that the opposition weren't playing badly. The Hurricanes, setting aside a few glaring errors, were firing well.
They were at home, in front of an increasingly partisan crowd at the stadium. They were on show before their own public and determined to bury the bogey of the Auckland Blues once and for all.
They didn't stand a chance.
This was a significant game in several key respects and one that will have given the New Zealand selectors plenty to ponder.
First, it was the best performance Robin Brooke has delivered in more than two years. Here at last, just when everybody thought his best was behind him, was the player who was so important to the All Black pack in the mid-1990s.
He may have been out of the All Black frame for the future before this. Now, he can't be ignored.
Secondly, this was the coming of age of Orene Ai'i. All week before the match, Grant Fox had been working on this wonderfully gifted young man, coaching out the needless impetuosity and coaxing in the order and discipline that a first-five must have at this level.
As a result, Ai'i produced an immaculate performance with the exception of the odd missed tackle. When you consider that other teams are consciously targeting him, that is hardly surprising.
Several times he was forced to stare into the whites of Filo Tiatia's eyes as the big No 8 shifted from scrums out to first-five and only once did Tiatia get past him.
Fox, as his name befits, is a cunning devil. He had three or four of his backline set up to chip the ball behind the Hurricanes' heavyweight threequarters.
On an evening which had a dash of dew on the ground this can be devastating, not least because it makes a defence just that little bit more hesitant.
And when Jonah and Tana begin to hesitate, things begin to go wrong.
Thirdly, perhaps the strongest feature of the Blues' play was the extraordinary accuracy of their loose forwards.
I have always had doubts about the sustainability of Xavier Rush and Andrew Blowers. Neither has been consistent enough when the real pressure is on.
In this game, however, both of them, aided by Justin Collins, were utterly outstanding. They effect-ively won the game for the Blues with the sort of tackling, covering and loose-ball monopoly that we long to see the All Blacks achieve consistently.
On this form, Blowers will go further this season.
The Blues are, once again, a balanced and finely tuned outfit. Both forwards and backs are a blend of the ancient and the post-modern with nothing much in between.
It may not be the healthiest of structures but it appears to be working. The real test will come when the Blues face a team that has an almost totally unstructured approach.
Like tonight.
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