Rugby: Prop gets straight back into the fray

SUPER 14
Blues26
Highlanders6

Tony Woodcock doesn't know the meaning of soft. The Blues loosehead had missed five games on the trot due to an ear-infection that left him vomiting, dizzy and incapable of much in the way of serious training.

He was still a doubt leading into the Highlanders game and even when he declared himself fit to start, coach Pat Lam was thinking he'd get 40 minutes, 50 tops from his All Black No 1.

"We thought we'd get 40 or 50 minutes from him," said Lam after the 26-6 home win. "The doc asked him at halftime how he was feeling and he said he was a lot better than he had been at the start of the game."

Woodcock wanted to stay on so they gave him another 10 and, when he showed no signs of fatigue or any ill-effects, they gave him another until the final whistle was blown.

It was a gutsy effort from Woodcock. "He's a tough man," was Lam's summation and that just about gets to the nub of it.

To go five weeks without football and then pack down against the hulking form of Clint Newland couldn't have been easy. Especially as for the last five weeks, Woodcock's conditioning work has been limited.

"I lost a bit of weight in the first week or so [of the infection] as I had no appetite and I had no interest in food and was listless.

"But I have been able to go to the gym, work on the bike and keep up my fitness. I thought we went pretty well [in the scrums] and was pleased with the effort."

Woodcock, like Lam, acknowledged the effort and intensity were nearer where they needed to be but there is still major room for improvement.

The aggression and technique at the breakdown were the platform for victory. The Blues are starting to show some real form in that department after a disappointing start and appear to have been galvanised by the return of Josh Blackie.

The former Highlander hit the contact hard and was ably supported by Jerome Kaino and Chris Lowrey with Keven Mealamu and Anthony Boric muscling up well, too.

This physicality and presence at the collision is starting to look like the Blues' key weapon and if they can maintain their work-rate and ferocity, they will be, at the very least, highly competitive in these closing weeks.

Their overall performance was blighted, and the flow and rhythm disrupted by sloppy handling, with Paul Williams having an uncharacteristically unfortunate night with his hands.

Referee Stuart Dickinson's incessant desire to blow his whistle combined with an unusually high number of injury breaks also disrupted the contest which ended up running for almost two hours.

The ultimate frustration for the Blues, though, was their inability to cut loose in the final half hour when the Highlanders were reduced to 14 men after Jimmy Cowan had been sent off for a late hit on Jimmy Gopperth.

The Highlanders captain appeared agitated from the earliest exchanges and was constantly making inquiries of Dickinson around the breakdown area. Cowan's patience was clearly tested and after 50 minutes he followed through on an attempted chargedown and caught Gopperth.

Dickinson said it was late, high and that no arms had been used and showed the red card.

Cowan wasn't sure it had been high and also said that he was committed: "My first instinct was probably under the shoulders [where he made contact on Gopperth], but I haven't seen the tackle. I was already committed to the tackle.

"I just felt they were taking our fringe players out around the ruck. We just didn't adapt to him [Dickinson]."

At 21-6 up, the Blues had an opportunity to build their confidence against 14 men but while they ran some nice lines and moved the ball, it was too often dropped.

Relief came late in the game when Joe Rokocoko burst on to an inside pass from Renee Ranger from inside his own 22 only to be brilliantly chopped down by the covering Ben Smith.

The ball was recovered, sent through more hands. Rokocoko picked himself up and was back to take a pop pass from the ruck to crash over.

Blues 26 (I. Toeava, J. Gopperth, T. Moa, J. Rokocoko tries; J. Gopperth 3 cons). Highlanders 6 (M. Berquist 2 pens). Halftime: 14-3.