Brisbane record has Blues playing cautious

DAvid Nucifora

So far, the only enigma about the Blues has been their ragged start to the Super 14.

However, they have tried to create some mystery this week in the search for their first offshore win against the Reds since the series went professional.

"I am aware of our rough record in Brisbane," coach David Nucifora said of his birthplace. "We will go early to help our body clocks adjust to the three hour time change and to acclimatise to the humidity. I found it unusual the Crusaders only went over a day before their game and I thought they started like that."

The Blues will travel tomorrow for their Saturday match and will delay announcing their side until they have had a run the next day.

Midfielders Ben Atiga, Luke McAlister and loose forward Justin Collins are unavailable and there are doubts about the fitness of Angus Macdonald and Brent Ward.

"Angus is 50-50 at best," Nucifora admitted, a prognosis which will elevate the chances of Troy Flavell returning to the side. He will compete with Kurtis Haiu and Anthony Boric for a place on the bench or blindside flanker.

Nucifora has delayed calling up any replacements for Collins or McAlister.

Collins had surgery yesterday to repair his Achilles tendon tear and will be out of rugby for four months while McAlister has been advised his cracked jaw will repair in a month.

The Blues have lost all five of their Super 12 games in Brisbane since the initial 1996 side, coached by Graham Henry, was belted 51-13. Dual defeats this season have emulated the sorry start the 1999 side made before they struggled to a 12-12 draw in their third game at Albany against the Reds.

The Reds have also lost both matches this season but they have performed better than most of the dire pre-season predictions.

Returning halfback Sam Cordingly, lock turned blindside flanker Hugh McMenamin and rookie five eighths Berrick Barnes have impressed and there was relief yesterday that x-rays cleared Cordingley and Julian Huxley of suspected breakages.

Nucifora said his squad's attitude had not slipped after the away loss to the Highlanders.

"We are very determined, no one is panicking and there is no finger-pointing within the squad. There is a lot from outside but we have to deal with that and work our way out of this," the coach said.

He was concerned about the variation referees were allowing at the scrum engagements. The issue had been discussed at a special Sanzar conference in Sydney last November. But Nucifora said the practical applications were not consistent with those discussions.

"I listened carefully and watched all the refereeing interpretations of the engagement [in round two] and thought they were all different. The referee may think he is interpreting it the right way but these boys are getting it a different way each week," he said.

That influenced halfbacks' work, what moves backrowers could pull and provoked indecision.

Nucifora just raised his eyes when asked how Saturday's South African referee J. C. Fortuin might deal with such a crucial encounter. Fortuin has not controlled a Super 14 match this year.