Blues Continue Winning Streak

The Blues game tonight was a hard fought contest and the Cheetahs certainly turned up to play at Eden Park tonight. There were some huge hits, and some of the Blues looked a bit worse for wear by the end of the game, this torrid encounter coming hard on the heels of a very physical clash with the Chiefs last week. Daniel Braid in particular needed some running repairs to his rearranged face. There will be some stitches required there methinks.

However, the Blues will be pleased to have won the game 26-8. Of concern for the Blues will be the way that their forward pack was unable to combat the lineout drive of the tourists, and was unable to get any momentum of their own against a pack that included a few heavy weights. Nucifora will no doubt be working on that during the coming week in preparation for the game against the Sharks next week who will definitely exploit this weakness with their considerable forward pack of test veterans.

On the postive side the Blues backline really fired and delivered a length of the field try that will certainly make the highlight reels for this season. It was chamagne rugby, superbly opportunism and some great skills to make a wonderful try that no team in the competition would have been able to defend against. Fantastic stuff for you Blues fans out there, this team is a virtual certainty for the top 4 if they can win any of their remaining four games. About time this team turned around.

Smoking Joe made a return to the field after sustaining an injury following the controversial reconditioning program that the All Blacks have been on fro the first half of the season. He looked short of a game, but to be fair the game had lost a lot of structure by the time he took the field and nothing could really be said about his game at this stage. Hopefully he will be back to his very best. It is all onwards and upwards for the Blues who face the Sharks at Albany and then must be due for their tour of Australia and the Republic. What a way to finish!