Rugby: Muliaina sees Blues fall flat

The Blues have added planking to their receding Super 15 repertoire.

They were flat and emotionless on Saturday night, and paid the price for that torpor against the Chiefs when they sagged to an 11-16 loss and their third straight defeat.

No wonder there were glum faces from coach Pat Lam and temporary skipper Jerome Kaino as they battled through a post-match chat while the celebratory noise from the Chiefs changing room threatened to engulf them.

The victorious coach Ian Foster had a more upbeat look.

"We came up with a plan and I thought the boys executed that brilliantly," he said.

The Chiefs were delighted even as they coped with news that celebrated midfielder Tana Umaga would not play again this season after rupturing his Achilles tendon. It was a sweet and sour farewell from the former All Black skipper whose try had pushed the Chiefs into the lead late in the first spell.

Conventional thought suggested the Blues would clear their heads and find a winning path at Eden Park on Saturday night. Instead they played with even less lustre and precision than their defeats to the Reds and Stormers. They were rarely allowed to get going by a tenacious Chiefs side but when they did, they showed all the savvy of a trick cyclist with a flat tyre.

The Chiefs played with set-piece power and backline expression which has been absent for large chunks of this season. They drilled the Blues in the scrum for much of the match until Keven Mealamu and Charlie Faumuina came from the bench.

The visitors crowded them in the lineouts, Tanerau Latimer, Liam Messam and Fritz Lee contesting relentlessly at the breakdowns to slow down their play and squeezed them with a strong defensive line. This was a victory for attitude, a robust retort from some of the earlier performances. It had been coming from the Chiefs. They had tooled up against the Highlanders and Stormers and shown more steel against the Crusaders.

"I think we came with a good attacking attitude, we held the ball well, I thought we made them make a lot of tackles and probably denied them the ball," Foster said. "That is probably the most consistent our setpiece has gone for quite a while."

The Blues' early tactics were hard to follow. What little ball they did get, they kicked to Mils Muliaina or Sitiveni Sivivatu who returned it with running interest. Clearly, Foster said dryly, the Blues had noted the All Black duo were weak links in the Chiefs chain.

Weather conditions were awkward at kickoff though the rain had cleared. The wind was blusteringly strongly enough for Luke McAlister to pound an early 55m penalty well over the crossbar.

But from there his kicking and the Blues' general play wavered. They held possession more late in the game but other than Jared Payne and Stephen Brett, looked unlikely to breach the Chiefs' defences. Kaino, John Afoa in general and Ali Williams were rare moments of warmth for the Blues pack.

The Blues scrum, early, was disrupted as opposing props Nathan White and Ben May got down to business after weeks on the sidelines.

"It is a great feeling and you only have to go next door to see how happy the boys are," Muliaina said. "That wind was favouring Siti's side and we wanted to catch it on the full and try and attack.

"It's been a big week for the back three to be fair. We have analysed pretty hard and the coaches have pointed out a few things from the last game which were not quite good enough. It was great to see Siti on song and work off him. I thought he had a fantastic game tonight."