RUGBY - Defeat leaves Foster lost for words

This was a pretty important result. This game means a lot for us. Beating the Chiefs means a lot to this team. We were very happy with our performance, especially in the second half.David NuciforaFOR a moment Ian Foster, the Chiefs rugby coach, was lost for words. It wasn't the only time on Saturday night that Foster had been asked a question and been bereft of answers.
Having just watched the Blues destroy the Chiefs 32-14 in a puzzling rugby romp to open the season at Eden Park, Foster hardly needed to be accosted with this sort of nonsense.
The post-match media session had somehow been infiltrated by some Chiefs fans, primed with the sponsor's finest, who interrupted a barrage of questions about the new rugby rules with this one: ``Fossie, if you were in my shoes, what would you ask yourself?'
The uproarious laughter drowned out the response, but it suspiciously sounded like this: "What am I doing here?"
To be fair, it could have been "What are you doing here?" Nobody was sure.
What everyone was sure of, after watching the Blues deliver a second half hammer in the form of three tries, a rock solid scrum and a seemingly unchallenged lineout, was that they have provided tangible evidence to back up fanciful theories.
Everyone knew the Blues had the players on paper to be a force this season, no matter what rules the Super 14 rugby competition is being played under. On Saturday the big names stepped up, and Blues coach David Nucifora was understandably contented about it .
"We picked a team with a very physical attitude and we knew if we could take them (the Chiefs) on physically we had more athletes to keep going," Nucifora said.
"This was a pretty important result. This game means a lot for us. Beating the Chiefs means a lot to this team. We were very happy with our performance, especially in the second half," he said.
The first half proved to be a mangled affair, the impact of the new rules very much the debating point as players from both teams seemed hellbent on avoiding the tackled ball laws by throwing speculative passes.
After halfback Danny Lee celebrated his 50th Super 14 game with an early Blues touchdown, the Blues blew two more golden try scoring chances with no-look passes to nobody.
The signs were ominous for the Chiefs though, although their spirits were lifted by a try to fullback Mills Muliaina on the stroke of halftime that saw the Chiefs take an 11-8 halftime lead.
Despite some promising gambits just after the break, the Chiefs were then starved out of the game by a dominant Blues forward pack where lock Troy Flavell and No8 Nick Williams were in menacing form.
Bullied at scrum time and unable to stem waves of Blues attacks from second phase play, the Chiefs never looked threatening in the second stanza. Flavell scored at the 50th minute after a breathtaking surge by Joe Rokocoko. Rokocoko then dotted down after a slick backline move, executed with precision timing by Nick Evans at first five eighths, and Ben Atiga produced a sidestep to get the bonus point try.
It was all too much for the Chiefs and most noticeably Foster, who could only doff his cap to the Blues afterwards.
"We were second in the set-piece battle and that gave us no opportunities to play the game. We knew they (the Blues) would come at us there so it's disappointing, and something we will have to work on," Foster said.
Nucifora and the Blues left for South Africa early yesterday, for a three-game tour. The long haul to the republic is always difficult, but will be eased with the knowledge that five points are in the bank.
If he asked himself, he would probably be quite happy.