Rugby: Kirwan's answer: Play both halves

Patrick Tuipulotu has been providing early impetus for the Blues. Photo / Jason Oxenham

One bad habit Sir John Kirwan has managed to stamp out at the Blues this season is their slow starts.

The problem is that they have replaced it with a trend towards poor finishes.

Of the eight matches they have played this year, the Blues have done their best work in the first 40 minutes in five of them - including their sole victory of the season, against the Brumbies last weekend when they scraped home 16-14 after leading 13-0 at halftime.

One of the poorest starts under Kirwan's watch came against the Highlanders in Dunedin last year when the visitors went behind 24-0 after converted tries by Aaron Smith, Malakai Fekitoa and Ben Smith - three individuals Kirwan mentioned as threats this week - only to reply with three tries of their own in the second half to lose only 29-21.

It was a topsy-turvy match typical of the Blues in recent times, and Kirwan knows only too well that his team must put in an 80-minute performance tomorrow against a Highlanders team which will be high on confidence after their 25-20 win over the Crusaders in Christchurch.

Kirwan is aware of the Highlanders' immense speed off the line on defence and said one of the best ways to counter that was to go through them in the middle of the park and put them on the back foot.

The Blues' victory over the Brumbies at Eden Park owed much to their work in his area in the first half, with men such as Patrick Tuipulotu and Jerome Kaino providing the impetus, but they went away from it after the break and almost let the Brumbies off the hook.

"We haven't started well down there for the last few years," said Kirwan when asked about the line-speed issue. "We need to match their excitement. If we get caught behind the gain line they're going to be able to get line speed so we need to win the contact area. If we win the contact area and the gain line, that helps negate the speed of the defensive line.

"That's what we did in the first 40 minutes against the Brumbies and what we didn't do in the second 40 minutes. In the second half we weren't getting over the advantage line and [David] Pocock was just destroying us."

Kirwan admitted to being emotionally spent after a win over the Brumbies, sealed only after Nic White missed a long-range penalty in the final seconds.

But while it might have eased the pressure on him and his team a little, Kirwan said it was quickly forgotten.

"We dropped that pretty quickly and have been concentrating on the Highlanders. They're an in-form side at the moment and are playing extremely well.

"They've got three world class players who can change the game at any second and they've got a hard-working rest of the team so they've got a really well balanced side."

Nineteen-year-old Akira Iaone will start for the Blues for the first time after Kirwan's decision to rest bruised flanker Steven Luatua.