Listless Blues crash to thumping loss

Well all NZ sides cant be awesome.

TM with regards to your comment "I haven’t lived in Auckland since 2001 and can’t believe how badly they’ve let their representative team get, even though the ITM side fairs well." this is very true, and a similar story with the Lions (until this year). But perhaps their domestic sides only do well because they don't have to deal with losing bucket loads of all blacks each season...

TM they have no respect for ball retention and go all out for the miracle pass. I have watched basketball games who pass like the Blues.. That tells me they lack discipline and structure. TM it seems too easy for players to not be focused on a team approach and many have an all about me attitude fix that and it will improve. And please don't bemoan the fact of not having All Blacks as an excuse if you look at the no name team from the Deep South for a blueprint.

RT part of it I think comes back to pride in playing for the Blues. the process in Auckland is now 'use the system' to get a good game and start looking for contracts as soon as possible. We need to stem that by either making it more difficult, or making players want to stay...how...I don't know. I also think the proliferation of Pacific islanders into the backline means there is an imbalance of instinct over structure. We tend to go for athletic, flashy backs by the bucketload and combining that with two successful attacking All Black backs as coaches perhaps tips the balance a little too far to one side of the thinking of the game. Not saying they necessarily ignore the more structured side of the game but how often do we associate poor Auckland performances with 'dropped, aimless or rushed passes' , 'no direction' , or 'reckless use of the ball' etc I think with JKs demise we should have gone with a more structured coach rather than for someone who 'identifies with the players'. That can be exactly the problem, particularly when he happens to have been a very successful, Pacific Island All Black back. Just think we need to adopt a different focus with our back play including obviously, finding better inside backs, forever our dilemma.

They didn't let Piutau go, he went for bigger bucks, they didn't want him going anywhere. With Tana I've never been convinced anyway. Came in with no major coaching win and has had two shockers now in the same manner as JKs sides did. So nothings changed. But anyway, agree with the talent spotting, but then we have the conundrum...'the Blues have such a talented team'...I mean do we have a problem there or not? What I'm saying is that clearly the best players come from Auckland in terms of numbers, because they occupy teams all over the world. The Auckland rugby fraternity needs to come up with something unique to resolve it because it has a unique problem, more sides want our players than they do from any other city. Henry alluded to it when he started with JK but never got round to doing anything about it.

I won't say its wrist slashing time but the guys HAVE to get up for the game against the Force who must 'fancy their chances' a little at home. Am I surprised TM, that they copped such a pounding (that's what it was) ... well really no ... Am I disappointed ... bloody oath I am. The article that ClarkeG linked us into was interesting ... all true but that's too easy in itself. The greatest problem I feel has been the hierarchy, the nepotism and old boys network has done great damage in my view. The Blues find it difficult to find great established players to sign as many 'do not want to play for the Blues' .. that is an indictment ... why because the environment is not right. That has to be fixed. How? ... mate easy for me or others to speculate on how to do this but it does need a strong focus with everyone involved, the Board, Administrators, Coaches, Players and fans knowing the carefully thought out plan so its transparent in righting the leaking ship. I am not sure how easy this is to do with private investors involved as well, but even they should be looking for a return on their investment. Everyone has a stake, no more cloak and dagger stuff as for example the extension of Sir JK's contract virtually by stealth. The remedial measures, in my view needs to be transparent.

I won't say its wrist slashing time but the guys HAVE to get up for the game against the Force who must 'fancy their chances' a little at home. Am I surprised TM, that they copped such a pounding (that's what it was) ... well really no ... Am I disappointed ... bloody oath I am. The article that ClarkeG linked us into was interesting ... all true but that's too easy in itself. The greatest problem I feel has been the hierarchy, the nepotism and old boys network has done great damage in my view. The Blues find it difficult to find great established players to sign as many 'do not want to play for the Blues' .. that is an indictment ... why because the environment is not right. That has to be fixed. I was discussing the Blues with one of the esteemed contributors on Roar

@ taylorman " It’s an Auckland problem, not a Blues squad problem. " it may be a problem with Blues' talent spotting. Naholo for example i recall was part of the blues in 2014 , when he could not get a seat on the bench. so he went to the 7s program , like mid of super season and has never looked back. Blues kept Joe Edwards and let Taleni Seu go. they let Piutau go (but that had wider implications). i know nothing of rugger compared to Tana Umanga - but i just cant understand why he has not looked to mix and match ? for eg. the 12 Francis - why not try him at 10 , given the ups and downs of West's game? why not put Moala on the wing (where he did well enuf to get noticed by allblacks) and put a regular center like male Sau ? i mean he has rarely changed the team around positionally or namely. why not try something different this season. am sure people will not blame him as he is new. but if he tries to experiment next or year after - then people will get frustrated if results dont come - just like with Kirwan.

Gaww...terrible wasn't it. I agree it's a pride thing but for me it's an Auckland pride thing (not to undermine the wider sides included in the Blues franchise) not just the players. Those getting up and leaving for other cities in droves for one. They need a drive to get some pride back into rugby, part of that involving wanting to get them back to where they should be. The biggest city in the best country that plays the game should simply have the best team, at least certainly not the worst! How is that even possible? Don't blame the players. It's an Auckland problem, not a Blues squad problem.

TM proud of you for hanging in ... its tough but I'm with you.

Racing ? :P

Yes but in this case I think it's because of the four sides, one didn't turn up...MINE!!!

Yes incredible, some of those stats were amazing. 91 matches without losing a game? Unbelievable. Nothing there we don't know but it does cover those leaving quite thoroughly. I'd bet there is no city that provides the worlds pro club and test playing squads more than Auckland. Nowhere near it. And that has to be a factor.

How exactly is Tana a great coach? That completely mystifies me. What has he won, as head coach, to get that description?

Lacking something, I don't think you can blame the coach. The Blues have been through a number of coaches over the past few years, a certain amount of responsibility has to lie with the players. The coach can only do so much, the players have to have a quality standard to meet and at the moment its very poor. The biggest part thats killing them is their decision making, especially with Ihaia West and Bryn Hall its just not working theirs no rhythm or connection between forwards and backs or anywhere for that matter. They can scrape up a few wins by pure luck during the season, mostly because the other teams having a bad day. Kaino has had an up and down season, if the All Blacks were selecting purely off form he wouldn't make it theirs far better performing loose forwards around same with Luatua. They definitely lack heart and pride, Umaga has tried, he's brought past legends to their games had them in their changing rooms talking to them trying to remind them of what they're representing and the great players who have played for the Blues. Tough one to figure out, suffering the second worse defeat in the clubs history is going to ask some serious questions of the players and where their hearts and minds are at, if these players are not willing to sacrifice the commitment required then they need to move on. Tana is a great coach but theirs something missing in their gameplay and the players ability to adapt to the opposition and create opportunities for themselves.

Taylor - on the issue of Auckland rugby and its struggles you might be interested in the following article by Duncan Greive in Metro from 2014. http://www.metromag.co.nz/metro-archive/the-fall-of-auckland-rugby/

Well thanks for looking cos I wasn't sure, point remains though. The underlying problem is mainly that we don't retain top players for long because the seconds or even those remotely impressing a scout want contracts. But that excuse is diminishing. I haven't lived in Auckland since 2001 and can't believe how badly they've let their representative team get, even though the ITM side fairs well. But it's not heart and pride alone, that flame burnt out long ago. Some has to always go with the coach, because as you say'anyone can coach the All Blacks'...if that's true, so should a good coach be able to coach a 'talented team'.

maybe in your mind TM. Facts though super 6 - 92 Reds won. super 10 - 93 Lions won. - 94 Reds won - 95 Reds won so Auckland did not win any pre super 12 tournaments. Yes early years of super 12 they were top.

Cool, and he knows all about pride in being an Aucklander does he? Man of many skills. As long as that's transferable sure, we'll try anything. Rugby in the 80s and 90s had Auckland as the best team at that level including all the pre SXV tournaments that went on, and beating practically everyone that toured in world rugby so it's not as though Auckland hasn't had it, and in spades, it's more a matter of why it's not been there for years, despite players leaving for contracts by the truckload. Think you'll find Auckland rugby players are in big demand, the Reds I think have seven in their squad, the Tahs ,a few as well, Slelton one that comes to mind. So it's not as though we don't have good players, it's that they tend to want contracts earlier.

Blues looked as if they did not want to be there. maybe the heavy rain was a factor. interestingly there was rain at both blues game and euro game. the only difference was no trys in euro game :)