Otere Black of the Blues is tackled during their latest Super Rugby Transtasman victory over the Brumbies. Photosport
Otere Black of the Blues is tackled during their latest Super Rugby Transtasman victory over the Brumbies. Photosport
OPINION:
There's a big moment coming in the history of the Blues this Friday when they play the Reds in Brisbane.
Not history-defining, but certainly history-shaping as a victory will bump the Blues a long way towards the Super Rugby Transtasman final and with that, at last, some genuine senseof arrival.
It's hard to know quite what to make of Super Rugby Transtasman. It's a welcome, but clunky ad hoc addition to what will most likely be a unique season given the circumstances imposed by the pandemic.
The Australian sides have an admirable resilience and willingness to keep fighting, but they are, as even they will mostly admit, without the overall expertise and skillsets to truly compete.
On a good day, the Reds and Brumbies have the unity and vision to beat the best, but it's a lottery when those good days will turn up and the other three sides don't have the ability yet to survive the intensity of playing Kiwi teams who seemingly turn every dropped ball and turnover into five points.
The real business happened in Super Rugby Aotearoa. It's the only monument of 2021 that will stand the test of time as Super Rugby Transtasman will sit as a peculiar competition, built as a temporary extension in which the 10 teams can kill time as much as anything else.
But for the Blues, Super Rugby Transtasman represents something significant. It is an opportunity to win something, however budget the whole thing might be.
Titles, even in competitions that are Home Brand, still can't be won by luck. Victories require control, discipline and strong decision making – factors that fluctuated for the Blues during Super Rugby Aotearoa.
Otere Black of the Blues is tackled during their latest Super Rugby Transtasman victory over the Brumbies. Photosport
The pressure that comes with expectation exists in the same way and what the Blues have now is an opportunity to confront all their demons and exorcise many of them or even all of them by continuing to play the way they have in the last three weeks for the next three weeks.
The Blues are piecing together a convincing campaign that faces its hardest test in Brisbane.
In the context of Super Rugby Transtasman, this is about as tough as it gets and yet it remains a game that is highly winnable for the Blues.
The Reds are entirely worthy of respect, but they should not be a team the Blues fear. They have no reason to be intimidated or inhibited in Brisbane as they have the ability, if they are focused, disciplined and composed, to not only win the game, but to do so with the obligatory bonus point.
The Blues, after losing their way in the middle of Super Rugby Aotearoa, are now consistently playing the sort of multi-faceted, highly-skilled rugby they are capable of.
They don't have to reinvent themselves in Brisbane or find a level they haven't yet reached. If they turn up confident and clear-headed, roll out the sort of rugby that has been way too good for the Rebels, Waratahs and Brumbies, then it should be a drama-free business.
Blues No.8 Hoskins Sotutu during the side's latest win over the Brumbies. Photosport
This is a game the Blues can and should win and why it represents such a big moment in time for them.
This is their chance to finally stand up under pressure – to head to a notoriously challenging venue against a quality, if slightly erratic opponent – and hold their form and nerve in a must-win game.
That's something they haven't done for an age and it's hard to imagine just how stark the consequences of victory and failure will be.
Win and they will virtually be in the final with one home game to come against the Force. Lose, and it might be all over.
That's how tight things are in Super Rugby Transtasman, but for the Blues, the result this Friday will pervade much deeper.
No one in their long-tortured fan base has the appetite to endure more failure. A victory, however, could be the catalyst for a talented group to finally realise they have the mental application as well as the physical ability to win those pressure battles that can swing on one mistake.
Sometimes all it takes for a potentially good team to become a great team is that one victory when it really matters.
This week could see the Blues take one small step in the context of Super Rugby Transtasman, but one giant step in the history of the club.
