Rugby: Four-try hero worried about flu bug

Chiefs winger Sitiveni Sivivatu is swamped by teammates after his four-try effort against the Blues last night. Photo / Getty Images

On the night Sitiveni Sivivatu made history with his four-try haul, he scarpered home to hop into bed and sleep off a flu bug.

While the rest of Hamilton loved his work, the man himself had no passion for it - he made frequent requests to come off at halftime.

"We kept telling him five minutes more," joked Chiefs coach Ian Foster. "He was under the weather. He has had a flu bug and was feeling pretty sick. But he's a special talent."

That's possibly understating things. There is something magical about Sivivatu when he's in the mood. And you can tell when he's in the mood.

He looks all of a dither, seems to confuse himself and before you know it, he's hopping past defenders and helping himself to tries. It's a lovable, yet hugely frustrating, shambolic style he has - that often emphasises the shambolic part.

Not last night. He was a thorn the Blues could not remove from their side, helped greatly by a mature and commanding display from Richard Kahui.

"I thought Richard played his best game of the season," said Foster. "He held their defence and opened up a lot of space.

"It was a good performance ... a great performance. We love playing the Blues and this game means a lot to us."

It means a lot to the Blues too, which is why their bus trip back to Auckland was unlikely to be happy.

The 63 points they conceded was a record and, while they have lost by bigger margins, there wasn't much for coach Pat Lam to take from Hamilton other than a bonus point, 22 battered bodies and a tiny bag of pride.

"If you don't make your first-up tackles, then you give them a platform," said Lam.

"When teams break you, then you go back and check the system, then you check the individuals."

Video footage will reveal a combination of system and individual failure. There was little intensity in the Blues defensive effort and they were all too easily cleaned out at the breakdown.

Collisions are as much about attitude as technique and there has to be some concern that the Blues couldn't lift themselves for a clash against their neighbour.

"We gifted them too many tries," was captain Keven Mealamu's blunt assessment and he was bang on the money.