BLUES 40
HIGHLANDERS 15
KEY POINTS:
Mission accomplished - the Blues did the necessary in Dunedin last night, collecting the five points they needed to keep their playoff hopes alive.
And there were signs some of the cut and thrust of their early-season play is creeping back.
Even through their darkest hours this season
the Blues scrum has been a powerful unit, quite comfortably laying claim to being the best in the competition.
That was the case again last night but there was a cohesion and directness about the rest of their work that augurs well for their chances of not only making the semifinals but of actually winning the thing.
Unrealistic? Not really. Super Rugby has forever and a day been a competition about momentum, as in, those who have it in the final weeks tend to ride it to the tape.
It hasn't been an easy season for the Blues. They lost their way horribly in the crucial middle stage when they had a run of home games against eminently beatable opponents.
Losses to the Force and Brumbies dented their confidence and a hammering by the Waratahs left them in serious introspection mode.
But none of that will matter if they can reproduce last night's form at Eden Park on Friday and other results go their way.
In Dunedin, they played a nice mix of tough, enterprising football. The scrum was rock solid, Tony Woodcock giving Clint Newland a reminder that Super 14 is a big step above provincial rugby, while Jamie Mackintosh will have learned plenty from his tussle with John Afoa.
That was complemented by some much-improved, close-quarter work from the forwards who, for the first time in weeks, off-loaded out of contact, which allowed them to get well behind the Highlanders' defence.
Taniela Moa was industrious at halfback where he continues to grow each week and the backs, with the platform they crave, hit the ball from depth and at pace.
And when the Blues manage to execute the basics, not overdo the crazy passing, use their physicality to intimidate in the contact, they are a compelling package.
It also helped that Nick Evans, the former Highlander and about to be Harlequin, rediscovered his zip and focus. It was maybe no coincidence that his form jumped the week he ended the will-he, won't-he saga and confirmed he is joining Harlequins later this year.
Playing against his former team-mates on a ground he knows so well would also have heightened the importance of the occasion for him and his first try, after 26 minutes, was all the video footage Harlequins would need to be sure their $1m investment was money well spent.
Evans took a long pass from Isa Nacewa standing still inside the Highlanders' 22 and didn't have much room to the touchline. He looked up, nudged a perfect grubber into the in-goal and then took 15 metres to make up the three metre start he had had conceded to opposite Paul Williams.
Blistering is the only word to use when describing that kind of acceleration, which was again in evidence for the second try when he had to scamper the last few metres to score in the corner.
A well-worked move off a dominant five-metre scrum gave Rudi Wulf the space he needed to claim the third score and kill the match by halftime.
That made the second 40 minutes about two things - securing the vital bonus point which proved to be not without its drama.
It won't have pleased the Blues coaching staff that, while in pursuit of the critical fifth point, their side started to get a little panicky.
Nor that things got a bit loose in the second half while there will be some consternation that twice Craig Newby was able to slice through the first line of defence with neither much in the way of pace or guile.
That edginess led to Moa throwing a needless pass in front of the Highlanders' posts when he could have just clung on and recycled. Then the normally ultra-secure Anthony Tuitavake spilled the ball in contact when they had space and numbers.
The powerful centre did make amends, though, when right on the 60-minute mark he cut back in from an angled Nacewa run and danced and barged his way over to get the job done.
And it was also about building the confidence ahead of what will now be a fascinating, everything-at-stake showdown against the Hurricanes.
