Rugby: Yo-yo plunges as Blues lose their direction

Blues wing Joe Rocokoco looks for a way through the defence as an anxious Kevin Mealamu supports him. Photo / Getty Images

The Blues yo-yo results chart swung into its familiar dip after their engrossing winning start to the Super 15 series with a plunge to defeat yesterday against the Sharks in sweltering Durban.

Penthouse or basement - there has been little space in between for the Blues who have yet to reach a 50 per cent success rate since coach Pat Lam took over in 2009.

They fell 26-12 yesterday in the oppressive humidity in Durban, pushing their losing streak to seven against the Sharks and leaving their overall run under Lam's command at 15 defeats and 13 victories.

The coach lamented his shabby statistics sheet which showed the Blues lost possession 26 times during the match, one of the factors which limited their ability to put the Sharks under any sustained heat.

"It was slippery but that was no excuse, it was nothing worse than we get in New Zealand," said Lam. "We made it hard for ourselves."

The outcome was a mirror image of last year's loss to the Sharks in Durban when the hosts took advantage of the visitors' high error count.

"They apply pressure, they come hard at you to shut you down. They push up hard, they are aware of our threats and we weren't able to cope," Lam acknowledged.

When the Blues kicked for territory the Sharks ran the ball back with interest and when they switched to a running game the Blues coughed up possession regularly.

Their failure to retain the ball or slow ruck-ball delivery meant they were picked off too easily by the Sharks' defence.

It was not until the final quarter when the Blues threatened with three of their best, Isaia Toeava, Jared Payne and Rene Ranger carving out some long distance before the cover defence claimed them.

It looked a carbon copy of last week's move when Benson Stanley claimed the Ranger offload, but this time the delivery was snuffed out.

There was little else from the Blues until, with seven minutes left and seven points adrift, Toeava's pass to an overlap was intercepted and JP Pietersen raced away to seal the result.

"There was a lot of effort but the execution was off," bloodied Blues skipper Keven Mealamu said of his side's performance.

"If you make that many mistakes against a side like that they will punish you and that is exactly what happened. Our plan was to look after the guys after our travel but we could not hold the ball, we could not build any pressure."

Mealamu needed stitching after the match to repair a deep cut above his left eye but there were no other significant physical injuries. The recovery from the mental scarring will next be tested by John Mitchell's Lions in Johannesburg. Lam felt his side lacked much spark from Jaco Peyper's opening whistle.

They conceded a try inside four minutes when Patrick Lambie recovered his ricochet grubber, although from there until Pietersen's late touchdown, the game became a kicking shootout between Lambie, Stephen Brett and his substitute Luke McAlister.

Sharks flanker Willem Alberts should have created an unbeatable lead for his side after halftime but he muffed a touchdown in a double tackle and then ignored his support players after a strong scrum move.

Meanwhile, the Blues spluttered along with their attacking threats blighted by mistakes.

They now head to the Highveld to play the Lions, who were only overtaken late in their match against the Stormers. The Lions have lost both games this year but Lam noted they looked much fitter and more structured than they had been in previous seasons.

The Blues have six days before that next match and would be able to have a few more training runs than they managed in their first week in Africa.