Super Rugby: Stormers give verdict on rejuvenated Blues side after loss in Auckland

The Blues have won three games in a row. Photo / Photosport

Turn enough corners and you can end up back where you started; a place the Blues have found themselves since they last made the Super Rugby playoffs in 2011.

To throw another tortured sports truism into the mix as we reflect on the Blues' steady and surprising progress up the table after their third win of the season – are they the real deal this year?

Perhaps they are. Certainly the Stormers, who say they played their best game of the season in the 24-9 defeat at Eden Park on Saturday, believe so.

"I guess they've got a bit of fight in them," said their head coach Robbie Fleck afterwards.

"When we were putting them under pressure they scrambled well and fought hard.

"They've always had X-factor players and so when you make mistakes they can put you under pressure or hurt you, but I feel like this year certainly they have a lot more fight in them. They showed it at the end of that game."

With 14 men for the final 10 minutes after Tanielu Tele'a's red card for a tip tackle on Dillyn Leyds, the Blues – only 17-9 ahead - simply regrouped and scored a converted try through Rieko Ioane to add to their two beautiful set-piece scores earlier from Tele'a and Otere Black.

The win was therefore all but in the bag, but the bonus point wasn't. A Stormers try would have denied them of that, but despite being under severe pressure in the final minutes as the South Africans searched for a consolation, the Blues stood firm.

It was more confirmation that this group is indeed different from previous Blues teams.

The result rocketed them from 12th to eighth in the overall standings, and third behind the Crusaders and Hurricanes in the New Zealand conference.

They will approach their next game against the Waratahs at Eden Park with real confidence and will have earned the respect of the rest of the competition after turning around a 0-3 start to be 3-3.

Stormers and Springboks captain Siya Kolisi said: "They're always physical… and you can see the guys in the team with experience are taking charge and helping the younger guys.

"Stuff that used to go against them last year is now going their way because they keep on working and they really want to win; you can see they're a different team to what they were in the past."

The quality of Rieko Ioane, his brother Akira, Sonny Bill Williams and Ma'a Nonu stood out for the Blues on attack, but it was their defence against nearly overwhelming odds which got them home.

The Stormers had two thirds of possession and territory and forced the Blues to make 182 tackles – double the number the visitors made.

"If you're going to go all the way to the end you're going to have to have a defensive line that's formidable," Blues head coach Leon MacDonald said. "We showed a lot of grit and guts in that area."

Next Saturday they will probably be missing Rieko Ioane, who is due for an All Black-enforced break, and Tele'a, who will face a judicial process this week, but they have wing reinforcements in the form of the returning Caleb Clarke and Matt Duffie – the latter playing 80 minutes for the Blues second team against their Chiefs counterparts following a bad hamstring injury.

"We felt we were never far away to be honest, right from round one," MacDonald said. "We just had to keep believing in what we were doing… and I think the belief is building every week."

First it was Auckland, who deservedly won the Mitre 10 Cup competition, and now there is tangible progress from the Blues. Forget turning corners - rugby at the top level in New Zealand's biggest city finally appears to be heading in the right direction.