More Blues' Blues: What's Wrong with the Auckland Blues

More Blues' Blues: What's Wrong with the Auckland Blues

The Blues, the Super Rugby franchise representing New Zealand's largest city and almost a third of its population, are having a dire season. They sit at the foot of the competition, well behind the other four New Zealand franchises. Skipper Keven Mealamu this week publicly criticised fellow All Black Piri Weepu who returned from post-Rugby World Cup leave noticeably overweight and unfit.

Outraged fans have clogged radio talkback and social media blaming the coach and the players. To my sorrow and dismay, many of those fans have highlighted and criticised the Polynesian coach and the significant number of brown-skinned players, which reduced team coach Pat Lam to tears of anger and rage in a press conference this week. Those "fans" conveniently ignore the fact that the same Samoan coach and an equally “brown” team made the playoffs in 2011.

The Blues have had a terrible start to the season, losing six of their first seven matches meaning they are already out of playoffs contention with over half of the competition still to play. So what is going wrong? And is there a solution?

Poor form of stars
The Blues notably strengthened their back line after last season, signing Weepu and Ma'a Nonu from the Hurricanes. This squad strengthening was somewhat offset by John Afoa, Joe Rokocoko and Luke McAllister's departures for Europe. Weepu's fitness issues have been well documented and derided; a far cry from the folk hero status he acquired at the RWC. Nonu was allowed to play Japanese club rugby over the summer break and returned to the Blues a week into the season lacking in sharpness. Meanwhile one of the world's best loosehead props, Tony Woodcock, was granted leave and missed the opening six weeks of the competition, leaving the Blues to blood relatively green props on both sides of the scrum.

Poor discipline and cohesion
Weepu returned unfit. Nonu returned below his best. Key players Rene Ranger and Luke Braid have missed several games through suspension. The team has generally played like a group of talented individuals rather than as a team. These can all be blamed on Lam and the rest of the Blues' management. The NZRU had guaranteed Lam's job until the end of the season, but his chances of a contract extension must be slim. But who will replace him? Would John Kirwan, Joe Schmidt or Vern Cotter want to come home to get a (very slippery) stepping stone towards becoming All Blacks' coach? The Blues have been known for inconsistency for five or six seasons now, losing games they should win, and turning it on when they have been written off. This season, sadly, they have been consistently poor.

Injuries
The Blues have lost players in key positions to injury at times and strength in depth has been insufficient to cope. Losing the likes of Jerome Kaino, Isaia Toeava and Anthony Boric to long-term injury does make a big difference. However, many of other teams in the competition have also suffered through injury, and the Blues are not the only hard-hit teams.

Changing times
Historically the old saying was "when Auckland is strong the All Blacks are strong". In the professional era that saying is not necessarily true. Back in rugby’s amateur days Auckland’s large population base and relatively low payer mobility (players tended to move to Auckland for jobs, rather than the reverse) fed into a savagely competitive club rugby competition superior to any other city’s. Johannesburg, Cape Town, Cardiff, London and Sydney had nothing to match it. That implied that if the Auckland provincial team was poor then the rugby talent for a big percentage of New Zealand’s population was underperforming, flowing through to the national team.

The Auckland provincial team was the dominant force in New Zealand rugby from 1985 to 1998. When professionalism arrived in 1996 this team formed the heart of the new Blues franchise that easily won the first two Super 12 competitions, and were heavy favourites going into the final in 1998. However, professionalism brought some downsides for Auckland. Firstly the lure of a nice “retirement package” and an “overseas experience” playing for wealthy European clubs was attractive to older players, meaning the great mid-90s side lost stars faster than it might have. In addition, young players who could not break into the Auckland or the Blues side suddenly had the option of moving to another province or franchise with the prospect of a nice salary, and the opportunity to play at a higher level. All of a sudden, Auckland’s population advantage with respect to players was largely wiped out. And in the good times fans had grown complacently expectant of success. When the results started declining, so did the crowds meaning that the financial clout that could have encouraged talent to stay was weakened.

Answers?
As an outsider looking in (I am a Crusaders-supporting South Islander living in London) it is hard to come up with a definitive answer. Some of the problems I identified above are external to the team, and will require lateral solutions.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s Canterbury and the Crusaders replaced Auckland and the Blues as the dominant New Zealand side by reacting best to the challenges brought by professionalism. Players with potential were recruited from other regions. And those players mostly got a lot better, or were discarded if they didn't fit the team ethos. The Crusaders became the team ambitious players wanted to join to maximise international prospects. Players there become part of a "family" that trains together and socialises together. The head coach's wife (initially Penny Deans, latterly Priscilla Blackadder) organises the players' partners into a support network that help each other out when the team are away on tour. The players are encouraged to use their down time to pick up skills for their career post-rugby, be it earning a university degree or learning a trade and gain self-discipline in the process. The Blues do already attempt this, a friend of mine worked as the team's career training planning consultant some years back.

The other New Zealand teams are performing fairly well this season, Former Crusader Mark Hammett's Highlanders shed the likes of Nonu, Weepu, Hore and Gear last year, and a new, younger team have all bought into a new ethic that presumably reflects Hammett's experience playing and coaching with the Crusaders. Jamie Joseph supplies hard-nosed disciple at the Highlanders. And Dave Rennie and Wayne Smith's first few months at the Chiefs have improved the team markedly. Sir Graham Henry is going to offer his advice to Pat Lam over the remainder of the season, which will hopefully lead to improvements.

Ultimately, there are a lot of talented players in the Blues region, with three top-level provincial teams in Auckland, North Harbour and Northland. Blues management needs to identify and recruit the best prospects both in and out of the region. The whole squad needs to start working together, working hard, and winning for each other. That may well require changing the management, both on the training pitch and the back office.

seems good to me, but i think maybe because you posted it from amobile device, it has posted twice? also small typo in the third paragraph it should be loosehead prop where its says loose headprop. but otherwise

Cheers, I must have double tapped the "paste" button. Will be trying to finish it on the Tube home tonight