Rugby: Blues lack killer touch

Lelia Masaga of the Chiefs against the Blues. Photo / Getty Images

Blues: 11 Chiefs: 16
It is never ideal to reverse into the play-offs but, with the Blues falling to their third consecutive defeat, that is what they are doing.

The conviction that shot them to the top of the New Zealand conference has gone. The killer touch is no longer theirs and they spent the final half hour in total control yet unable to make it count. On current form, they will be the team the other finalists want to play. The direction and control they need to survive at this level was sadly missing last night. They were all style and very little substance.

There was plenty of movement, plenty of off-loading but not much in the way of advancement. The Chiefs held their defensive line expertly and the Blues couldn't find space although they hoped they would if they kept working the ball from touchline to touchline.

When they did manage to get in behind the Chiefs and create opportunities in the right places on the field they were stunningly careless. For the first time this season their old disease of getting too excited at the critical times came back.

The problem with that was that it pushed the anxiety to dangerous levels. Dominating possession and territory and playing most of the rugby in the second half, it was agony for the Blues to not claw back the two-point deficit. It was like watching the All Blacks in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final all over again. Just three points were needed to get back in front but they wouldn't come. Each dropped ball, each dropped pass added to the foreboding sense that it wasn't going to happen for the Blues.

They will no doubt dwell on the second 40 minutes when they do their analysis this week and wonder how they failed to convert their pressure into points. But they need to spend a fair bit of time asking what they were up to in the first half.

The Blues had obviously decided that Sitiveni Sivivatu was the weak link in the back three. With the wind mostly at their backs in the first half they forfeited its advantage to make sure they dropped the ball in front of the All Black wing.

They didn't turn him, they didn't force him to leave his feet to catch it and they didn't expose him. It was a fruitless ploy but that didn't deter any of the Blues backs from persevering with it. Even if Sivivatu had ever found himself under pressure, the omnipresent Mils Muliaina would have ridden to the rescue all knight in shining armour. There are flashier, more explosive types around these days than the Chiefs captain but they can't deliver the way he does.

Muliaina is Mr Consistent and was always available for the ball to take the counter attack over the advantage line and give his forwards something to aim for. It's all too easy to underestimate the value of that contribution - but forwards know what it is worth.

The Chiefs pack didn't have to trail back and defend - Muliaina always came back to them and for most of the first half the Chiefs dominated possession as a result. The Blues would kick lamely; the Chiefs would work it through the hands less lamely.

Conditions made it hard for them to be deadly but they were useful at times. Richard Kahui clocked in for another solid shift that will have nudged him closer still to All Black selection while there was no doubt the return of Umaga gave the Chiefs backline more poise and thrust.

He bides his time these days but his little thrusts are worth waiting for. He stepped and went to sear past Benson Stanley throwing the whole stadium back six years to his international farewell season in 2005 when he was electric.

Fittingly it was Umaga who capped his initial break with the score - piling through the melee to plonk the ball down. He hobbled off just after halftime and looked in some discomfort. As he hopped to the bench with a suspected ruptured Achilles, the sad fact probably didn't dawn on many that the great man may never be seen again in these parts.

Blues 11
J. Payne try; L. McAlister 2 pens

Chiefs 16
T. Umaga try; S. Donald con, 3 pens