Rugby: Injury woes grow Blues to-fix list

Isaia Toeava, right, injured his hamstring. Photo / Getty Images

A nervous week looms for the Blues as they monitor the fitness of Isaia Toeava.

The All Black utility was the only casualty in Friday night's win and his strained hamstring might not come good in time to play the Reds in Brisbane.

That will leave coach Pat Lam with a major hole and no one to fill it as Luke McAlister and George Pisi are unavailable. Anthony Tuitavake managed only his first hit-out yesterday playing for the development team.

Rene Ranger can play centre but Lam won't want to take on the high-flying Reds with a makeshift backline.

"They look a good side," Lam said of the Reds. "Against the Crusaders they built on their performance from the week before when they should have beaten the Waratahs.

"Ewen McKenzie has them firing and they put the Crusaders under constant pressure. It will be hot, it will be humid and they are in form ... the challenges don't get any easier which is what this competition is all about."

Also on the Blues 'to-fix' list is their lineout, which was strangely inaccurate in Dunedin. The Highlanders are one of the more competitive aerial units and they heaped the pressure on the Blues' throw by using Tom Donnelly, Josh Bekhuis and Adam Thomson to compete.

The pressure told and the Highlanders were able to work themselves into the right places on the field through stolen lineout ball.

Lam didn't think the issues were deep or that they would take much to fix. He felt the Blues were guilty of basic errors rather than being out-thought or out-jumped.

Still, it was the first sign of how much they will miss Ali Williams and the demand on Anthony Boric to be the main ball winner every week.

Williams' injury also means the Blues are short of a leader and a voice of experience when the heat comes on. That was identified during the review of the loss to the Hurricanes and in the wake of that, the senior players were asked to take control and make their presence felt against the Highlanders.

"I was really proud of Kevvy [Keven Mealamu] and Stevie [Stephen Brett]," said Lam.

"We did a lot of work this week making sure that, when we are under pressure, we keep performing. We weren't winning lineout ball but we didn't fall out of the game and Stephen kept steering the ship.

"We had to guts it out in the final 10 minutes when we were down a man and, while there is still lots for us to work on, we got the win and that is the most important thing. It was a very tough game."

It wasn't just Brett and Mealamu who stood up when needed. Joe Rokocoko had another excellent game and the former All Black has the look of a man determined to no longer be a former All Black.

His counter attacking was again top drawer and the pace of old is back. The Blues look a genuinely dangerous commodity when they run from deep, a point best typified in the build-up to Paul Williams' first try and the one scored by Ranger.

In those moves, there was excellent use of the width, some smart decision making and clever angles of running. The pace was too much for the Highlanders as well and if the Blues can produce more of that potency for longer periods, they are going to be hard to contain.

"Joe has been on fire," said Lam. "Not only on the field but he's also taken a much bigger leadership role. Missing the All Black tour enabled him to have his first proper pre-season in years and he's looking really sharp.

"But all the guys have been working on their kicking as well as we can't be known as one-trick ponies who can only run."