'There's positives': Vern Cotter staying optimistic despite narrow defeat

When you thought nothing could get worse than it already was, the Blues have lost another Super Rugby Pacific game in the 2025 season, piling the pressure on Blues head coach Vern Cotter to get his team back up and running.

They were close, and if it wasn’t for the width of the right goal post at FMG Stadium Waikato last night, the Auckland-based side’s season may be looking slightly more positive.

Three late scratchings didn’t help, adding to the already packed injury list, headlined by Beauden Barrett’s hand fracture.

Cameron Suafua, Caleb Clarke and Ofa Tu’ungafasi all missed Saturday evening’s 2024 grand final rematch, all nursing injuries that may keep them out for next week’s matchup against the Crusaders.

Despite the Blues sitting at a disappointing ninth place, with the Crusaders next week, Cotter was upbeat about his team’s performance.

“I thought we were a bit clunky at the start, and then when we started taking a little bit more initiative to see some simple things.

“It comes down to, we always use that fine margin, but it is, it’s just that conversion that shaves the post and the yellow card probably hurt us as well.

“I’m really happy with the attitude. I think we can build from it,  so we missed three points today, we’d like to have four, we’ve got one, and we’ll be working next week to get as many as we can.”

Cotter feels like the results at the start of the season haven’t showcased his squad’s effort, saying that there are positives from these last couple of losses.

“It’s getting better week on week, even if you look at the score line against the Chiefs four weeks ago, there’s improvement. So we just need to have that mindset to improve.

“I feel like Patty and the boys have got it, I think the whole group not just the 23-man squad but everybody involved in the team, want to do better and are trying to improve.

“I felt right from Monday, and I thought we saw a bit of it tonight, I saw quite a lot of it today. So you just take it, you keep moving forward.

Although the Blues are without star playmaker Beauden Barrett with a fractured hand, Cotter welcomed back Stephen Perofeta into the lineup, coming off the bench and showing positive signs in his first short stint of the season.

“We’re just really happy to have him back, during the week, he attempted a couple of goal kicks, and just said, look, I’m not ready yet.

“So it’s nice having him back, he had some nice touches, he’s been working really hard. He hasn’t played since November so he’s a calm, composed person that thinks well, constructs the game well.