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New Blues captain's verdict on why Blues are on the rise again

(Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

By Patrick McKendry, NZ Herald

For in-form midfielder TJ Faiane, a stand-in captain with the sizeable boots of Patrick Tuipulotu to fill against the Lions at Eden Park this afternoon, the secret to the Blues’ improvement this season is simple — better fitness which has led to better decision-making.

That players have turned up to a new season in better nick than before is a common refrain but there seems to be real substance in it as far as the Blues are concerned.

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Certainly, it allowed No 8 Akira Ioane to get through 80 very good minutes in the victory over the Hurricanes in Wellington despite playing only a grand total of 12 previously this season, and that solid conditioning foundation has allowed for a greater workrate and a more ruthless edge when it comes to option taking.

“I think we’re a fitter team,” Faiane said. “Our strength and conditioning team have done well this off season to get the boys in good nick and we’re executing. We’re just mentally tougher I think.

“It’s not just the individual with the ball making decisions, it’s the guys around him. When you’re fitter you can do that under fatigue. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

The Blues have rarely been associated with the word “composure” over the last decade but they have become far more adjacent to it this season.

The form and leadership of Tuipulotu and the depth of the loose forwards where Akira Ioane, Blake Gibson, Dalton Papalii, Tony Lamborn, Tom Robinson and Hoskins Sotutu are vying for three starting positions and one on the bench, has flowed through to a backline well led by first-five Otere Black and a midfield partnership of Faiane and Rieko Ioane which is building nicely.

Stephen Perofeta missed a couple of high balls against the Hurricanes but has impressed at fullback, with Mark Telea a find on the left wing.

“The camp is happy,” Faiane said. “Monday is always good after a good win. We just have to keep our foot on the throat and keep our momentum going.”

He added when asked about his team’s position on the table: “You don’t win trophies after seven rounds.”

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The loss of Tuipulotu this week, due to an enforced All Black rest period is a blow but in theory this new version of Leon MacDonald’s team have the depth to survive it against the Lions. All of the squad are aware they have yet to win at home this season, however.

“He’s been probably our most consistent player so I’ve got big boots to fill,” Faiane said of the big Blues and All Blacks lock. “But I’ve got a good team around me so I won’t be doing it all by myself.”

And to cap off a remarkable few weeks and three consecutive wins, Beauden Barrett has finally started training with his new franchise and has made an immediate impact.

The two-time World Rugby Player of the Year is scheduled to run out for the Blues next month and possibly for the match against his former Hurricanes team at Eden Park on April 11.

“He’s quick eh, that’s the first thing I noticed,” Faiane said of one of the best playmakers in the world. “He’s a cool cat. He hasn’t really spoken up as much yet, I think he’s still feeling his way in. He’s smart and the team will be better with him in it.”

This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

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