(Left to right): Mark Telea, Rieko Ioane, Dalton Papali'i, Hoskins Sotutu (try-scorer) and Finlay Christie celebrate following the Blues vs Force match of the Sky Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competition at Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday, June 12, 2021. Photo / www.photosport.nz
(Left to right): Mark Telea, Rieko Ioane, Dalton Papali'i, Hoskins Sotutu (try-scorer) and Finlay Christie celebrate following the Blues vs Force match of the Sky Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competition at Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday, June 12, 2021. Photo / www.photosport.nz
If revenge is indeed a dish best served cold, the Blues could hardly have asked for better ingredients than those withwhich they have been presented this weekend.
They will travel to Christchurch, where they could not only secure the number-one playoff spot if they win with a bonus point and their old foes the Chiefs do them a solid by beating the Hurricanes, but they will also be able to snuff out the last vestige of hope the Crusaders have of sneaking into the last eight.
The double whammy would not only give the Blues the option of choosing how to tackle the last week of the round-robin – a risk-free chance to either rest and rotate or adopt a full-throttle mindset to strike a psychological blow and keep the momentum building – but it would also eliminate from the playoff equation a Crusaders team showing signs of coming back to life despite their prolonged run of defeats.
But perhaps most significantly, securing a victory this week in Christchurch would serve as the most compelling reason to date to see the 2024 Blues as having the hard edges their recent predecessors didn’t.
It would be a win to symbolise that new coach Vern Cotter has delivered regime change that would be more fairly categorised as revolution, not evolution, and it would be a win to enable a handful of senior Blues players to start healing the mental scars the Crusaders have inflicted upon them in the last two years.
In the 2022 final and then in the semifinal last year, the Crusaders’ pack rolled up their sleeves and systematically destroyed the Blues’ forwards. In 2022, it was an aerial assault – a comprehensive annihilation of the Blues’ lineout to deny them possession from the sideline.
Last year, the Crusaders produced a relentless display of powerful ball-carrying, collision work and scrummaging that obliterated the Blues to the extent they conceded 50 points.
Dalton Papali'i reacts to the Blues' 2022 Super Rugby final loss to the Crusaders. Photo / Getty Images
It was an evening when the reputations of their aspiring cohort of All Blacks forwards – most particularly Hoskins Sotutu and Akira Ioane – were damaged so significantly that the former dropped so far as to not only miss out on World Cup selection, but didn’t make the All Blacks XV either.
The Blues didn’t have any crunch that night. There was no venom in their defence, no punch in their ball-carrying, a wobbliness and frailty to their scrum, little presence exerted at the breakdown, and so little ability to stay in the fight or even know where the fight was taking place.
There are ghosts everywhere for the Blues to exorcise in Christchurch, and what might it do for Sotutu – the star turn of Super Rugby this year – and the likes of Ioane, Patrick Tuipulotu and Dalton Papali’i to thunder over the top of red jerseys and dominate the Crusaders on their home patch in front of their own people?
And while it could be fairly questioned whether a victory in Christchurch carries the same value of old, there is still every reason to see this weekend’s clash as a hugely meaningful test of the Blues’ resolve and physical readiness to push on to win Super Rugby.
The one part of the Crusaders game that appears to still be standing around the ruins of their lateral attack and jittery lineout is their scrummaging power.
In Canberra, the starting front row of Joe Moody, Codie Taylor and Fletcher Newell produced arguably the season’s most impressively destructive demonstration in a show of power worthy of being described as “awesome”, in the true rather than hyperbolic sense.
Newell appeared to be the architect of the shock-and-awe scrummaging, using the incredible raw power that has enabled him to genuinely consider a post-rugby career as a weightlifter.
The 23-year-old is showing he can not only produce unbelievable stats in the gym, but has the ability to transition that power to the field.
Given the way he buckled Wallabies veteran James Slipper, he’s technically adept and, most importantly, equipped with the sort of desire and mindset to see scrummaging for the contest of wills it really is.
Whatever the Crusaders may be lacking this year – mental blind spots under pressure, a wildly erratic kicking game and a propensity to attack from east to west – their pack has enough crunch and recent form to provide the Blues with their stiffest challenge of the season.
The Crusaders have the added incentive of being truly desperate. They are not just trying to keep their faint playoff hopes alive: they are playing to try to stop the crumbling of an empire.
They have gone from winning seven successive titles to barely being able to win just two games this year, and yet if they can beat the Blues and then Moana Pasifika the following week, they could, unbelievably, sneak into the playoffs and change entirely the complexion of what has so far been a catastrophically bad season.
Crusaders v Blues
Kickoff: 7.05pm, Saturday
Live updates: Follow the action live on Herald Sport and tune in for commentary with Nick Bewley, John Haggart and Craig Kerr on Gold Sport and iHeartRadio
