Super Rugby Pacific: Blues enter must-win territory ahead of crucial clash with Hurricanes

If the Blues want to defend their Super Rugby Pacific title, they know victory against the Hurricanes in Auckland on Saturday night is a must.

The Blues are languishing at 10th in the standings, only ahead of the last-placed Fijian Drua on points differential with one win in six games this season.

Heading into the second half of the season, they are eight points behind the sixth-placed Western Force, essentially two wins out, and they know the turnaround must start this week.

First-five Beauden Barrett and captain Patrick Tuipulotu are among several players named to return from injury to face the Hurricanes.

Barrett is back after fracturing a metacarpal bone in his hand, and with the team feeling rested after the bye, he insists they’re ready to get their campaign on track.

“Of course we want to be higher up the ladder, but we’ve still got to quietly work away and improve because, it is a long way to go in this competition,” he said.

“It’s almost the same question when you ask a team who’s winning every week. You have to back the processes and not get caught up in the highs or lows.

“We’ve addressed what we needed to. We understand what we need to do to get some momentum.”

While the Blues have struggled, they are not far off, with four of their five defeats being by nine points or less, including two one-point losses to the Brumbies and Chiefs.

Along with Barrett and Tuipulotu, the coach Vern Cotter also welcomes back hooker Kurt Eklund and Ricky Riccitelli, loose forwards Anton Segner and Adrian Choat and midfielder AJ Lam.

But they’ve lost All Blacks prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi for the remainder of the season.

With several key players back, Cotter is hoping a back-to-basics approach can lift his team.

“You win as a team, and you lose as individuals, and I just think we need to tighten up and become a real tight team again.

“I think it’s a little bit of the externals and pressure and everybody wanting to do well and trying too hard and then things don’t go your way, it seems to be that way.

“Back to fundamentals, back to reset, back to becoming a team, back to our strengths, what we enjoy doing, and how we enjoy expressing ourselves.

“If we work at it and work hard at it, work hard for each other, the sun will come out again.”

While the Blues have struggled this season, overall, Super Rugby Pacific as a competition is thriving.

Heading into round eight, all four Australian sides currently sit inside the top six with the Chiefs and the Crusaders.

There have been upsets galore, highlighted by the Reds’ first win in Dunedin in 12 years when they beat the Highlanders, while Moana Pasifika stunned the Crusaders last weekend.

“As a spectator, it’s been great to watch,” Barrett said. “I think that’s why the fans are loving it.

“It’s an interesting looking ladder. No one would probably have picked it at the start of the season, but that’s good for the game and good for Super Rugby.”