The Blues’ defence has been a key factor in their Super Rugby Pacific dominance and helped elevate them to the top of the table this season.
The Auckland side are preparing to face the Crusaders in Christchurch this weekend, a place where success has been historically rare for the Blues.
The Blues broke an 18-year winless run in Christchurch in 2022 by grinding out a hard fought 27-23 victory.
However, things are different for the two sides this season — currently sitting at opposite ends of the ladder.
The Blues have conceded, on average, just two tries a game — unheard of in recent times.
Blues defensive coach Craig McGrath puts their defensive success down to making improvements in posture and having buy-in from his senior players.
“We've made some changes in the past six months..which has been good,” said McGrath.
“We’ve looked at our body height because we felt like we were probably a bit high, and made some adjustments there.”
The Blues lead the competition in their tackle completion at 88%.
McGrath has also been with the Auckland NPC team for the past four years and was head coach last season.
The former Blues and Auckland halfback recently spent time with the Warriors head coach Andrew Webster and sat in on a few of their training sessions.
"Yes there's some similarities in the game, but I just wanted to see how he coaches, interacts with the players. I’m hugely impressed with what he does."
McGrath was asked what he thought about the Crusaders form this season.
"Look, they're going through a rough time down there at the moment.... that's pretty scary isn't it?"
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