Rugby: Hammett echoes Lam's mantra before rematch

Blues coach Pat Lam has taken any team injuries on board this season and moved on. Photo / Brett Phibbs

One game doesn't make a successful Super 15 series but the Hurricanes are talking up their chances as they meet the Blues in the first of the New Zealand rematches.

Coach Mark Hammett has been talking about the good vibe in the camp, a sense the Hurricanes are on the right track after some serious wobbles.

It sounds like some old-fashioned sporting psychology or optimistic therapy rather than a realistic assessment. But coaching is not just about taking blackboard and training sessions.

Somehow Hammett has to make his side forget the staggers they suffered in beating the Reds last round and concentrate on the areas of improvement.

"This time we get the tick for work ethic, but with smarts," he said.

It is a theme Blues coach Pat Lam has been preaching to his players all season. His team had their glitches too but worked through them and stare at a record with just one defeat.

They have parked their dogged pragmatic last win against the Highlanders and sorted out another template they feel will suit them for their visit tonight to the Cake Tin.

They have been whacked by injury but that is one of the realities of this series.

In the past two years Lam would have bemoaned those fates, this season he has taken the hits and moved on.

The Blues have an unchanged pack tonight, one which cuts it at scrum time but may feel more lineout heat with utility Chris Lowrey filling in at lock. Lam said it was a case of working on options while Lowrey would give an extra athletic dimension to the pack.

"If you have got someone who is fit and fast and makes big hits then it certainly helps," he said. "At lineouts there are enough options to be able to win the ball, and in this day and age it is all about the work you do as a unit."

The pool system in the Super 15 brought a new dimension to the competition with tonight's first New Zealand repeat.

"We will have to do some different things and better and remember the team that lost first has got more motivation.

"The first time we played at home and now we are going away and obviously, on the back of a big challenge of what they did to the Reds last week, it brings even more difficulty to the task."

The Blues would like to crank up their tryscoring again but the weather forecast might inhibit that.

The most important target tonight was victory.

The host pack were labelled "outstanding" by Hammett a week ago in celebrating 100 games in the Canes strip for captain Andrew Hore.

That description will have been noted by a Blues eight which has become more consistent.

Injuries have forced them to use the backup men like Tevita Mailau, Lowrey and Luke Braid and the standards have stayed.

The Hurricanes will use the same argument after their rejigged inexperienced backline helped deliver the result last round.

Momentum is one of the strongest allies in sport, the Blues and Hurricanes are both riding that ingredient but one will have to cope with losing that advantage tonight.

* Three of the Blues backline, Alby Mathewson, Benson Stanley and Lachie Munro have signed contracts to play for the side again next year.

Wellington, 7.35 tonight

HURRICANES
Andre Taylor
Alipati Leuia
Jayden Hayward
Daniel Kirkpatrick
Hosea Gear
Aaron Cruden
Chris Eaton
Victor Vito
Jack Lam
Faifili Levave
James Broadhurst
Jason Eaton
Neemia Tialata
Andrew Hore (c)
John Schwalger

BLUES
Jared Payne
Joe Rokocoko
Rene Ranger
Benson Stanley
Lachie Munro
Stephen Brett
Alby Mathewson
Peter Saili
Luke Braid
Jerome Kaino
Ali Williams
Chris Lowrey
John Afoa
K. Mealamu (c)
Tevita Mailau

Hurricanes: Dane Coles, Anthony Perenise, Jeremy Thrush, Mark Reddish, Tyson Keats, Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett.

Blues: Tom McCartney, Pauliasi Manu, James King, Sean Polwart, Chris Smylie, Aaron Bancroft, Sherwin Stowers.