Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'It sneaks in pretty quickly': Covid behind Blues' early-game inaccuracies

Stephen Perofeta. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

While the Blues managed to secure a 32-20 win over the Highlanders at North Harbour Stadium on Friday night, it was far from a vintage performance for the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman champions.

ADVERTISEMENT

Down 13-3 at halftime, it took some excellent work in the second spell from the likes of flanker Taine Plumtree and wing Mark Telea, plus an improved showing from the forwards as a whole, for the Blues to flex their muscles over a Highlanders side that now sits on four losses from four matches played in 2022.

The Blues were incohesive and inaccurate throughout the first 40 minutes, dropping passes, kicking away possession and ultimately struggling to build any pressure on their opposition. Some of those inaccuracies, however, can likely be attributed to the late changes made by the Blues due to the emergence of Covid within the squad.

Video Spacer

Is this the best uncapped player in New Zealand right now?

Video Spacer

Is this the best uncapped player in New Zealand right now?

All Blacks Nepo Laualala and Beauden Barrett were both initially named to start on Friday night but were withdrawn ahead of kick-off. That saw Marcel Renata promoted from the bench into the No 3 jersey while fullback Stephen Perofeta moved into Barrett’s vacated spot at first five and Zarn Sullivan joined the run on side in Perofeta’s place at the back.

While there were aspects of his side’s performance that left Blues coach Leon MacDonald frustrated throughout the first half, he acknowledged that the late changes to the team may have been behind the Blues’ lack of cohesion early in the piece.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by RugbyPass (@rugbypass)

“I think it had a part to play,” MacDonald said following the match. “We were shuffling the team around, the guys hadn’t really trained in those positions. Stevie had no time at first five this week and Zarn had limited time at fullback et cetera.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Those things, they don’t help, but we have been training together as a squad now [for a while] and we’ve been talking about that this will happen, we’ve been expecting this to happen [but without the changes we] might be clicking a bit earlier than what we did.”

With Covid rampant in New Zealand at present, the Super Rugby sides have been well versed in minimising the impact of the pandemic but, as the Blues’ situation in the build-up to Frida has reinforced, it’s impossible to prevent emergences altogether.

“You can’t fully protect yourself,” he said. “We have guys going home to their houses with their partners who work, or flatmates who work. So you can only do as much as we can and when we’re in our environment we’ve got control but once you go home, we haven’t.

“It sneaks in pretty quickly and when it does, it takes off through the environment pretty quickly. It’s a bit of an awakening for us really.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

Despite the early-game hiccups, the Blues roared into life immediately after the halftime break with 22-year-old Plumtree scoring two tries in the first 10 minutes of the second stanza after some good work in the tight by the Blues’ pack and from that point on, the home side were in control of the match.

Having scored wins in their past two matches at home, the Blues will now take to the road for fixtures against the Crusaders and Highlanders in the South Island. That first game, in particular, will be a massive challenge for the Blues who could still be without some of their top players due to Covid – although MacDonald is hopeful that all the positive cases have already been identified in camp.

“Obviously they need to recover and come back after their stand-down period,” he said. “Hopefully we’ve ring-fenced it and hopefully that’ll be it.”

Having already lost Harry Plummer for the season, Barrett’s unavailability would strip the Blues of their two first-choice flyhalves. It would also rob the fans of the chance to see New Zealand’s two premier pivots face off in what’s sure to be an enthralling contest at Orangetheory Stadium next Sunday.

As Highlanders coach Tony Brown said earlier in the week, it appears that whichever team remains the healthiest will have the best shot at taking home the spoils this season.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Everyone is saying the same thing after agonising England loss Everyone is saying the same thing after agonising England loss
Search