Blues prop Angus Ta’avao has described his side’s round one loss to the Chiefs at Eden Park as a “good smack in the nose” and a “wake-up call”.
For Ta’avao and his teammates, the reverberations from the 25-14 defeat during which the Blues failed to score a point in the second half were still being felt at training this morning.
Head coach Vern Cotter appeared to be in full “Stern-Vern” mode as the squad trained under a warm Auckland sun ahead of their round two match against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday.
The Blues were last year characterised by a directness and toughness that wasn’t present at Eden Park at the weekend and the forwards have taken that to heart, according to Ta’avao.
"It was a tough watch and there were some tough conversations," he told 1News today. "If you boil it down, it was probably the collision area. As forwards, we didn’t step up – we got dominated there a little bit.
"[The Chiefs] set their intentions really early and ground [us] down and the injection of their All Blacks late worked really well for them.
"That’s what we built our championship on last year — our physicality. Not winning collisions — dominating collisions and getting front-foot ball. Definitely, we’ve had a look at it. The review clips were very honest. Today, we’ve been ripping into each other.
"If anything, it’s a good smack in the nose. Sometimes, you need a wake-up call. Some of the guys who were coming back [now know] that’s the standard and level we need to be at."
The Blues did fail to capitalise on their 14-6 halftime lead but they weren’t far off. Had the ever-dangerous Mark Tele'a scored in the right corner midway through the second half when the Blues were leading 14-11, it may have been a different story.
Halfback Cortez Ratima’s last-ditch tackle did for Tele'a who may have done better to put the ball down earlier. But, such is the All Black's try-scoring ability, few would have expected Ratima to deny him.
"Massive," agreed Ta’avao. "It would have put us up by two scores. I was on the other side and had just done some clean-outs. I was blowing.
“I was saying 'thank you Mark' for scoring, thinking it was all said and done. It was a momentum shift for the Chiefs. Cortez Ratima — big play from him. Mark scores that try nine times out of 10. I’m sure we’ll see more tries from him this week."
As Ta’avao acknowledged, though, the Highlanders will not be an easy proposition under the roof on Saturday night.
They led the Waratahs in Sydney at the weekend — scoring six tries in the process — only for the home side to have the last say with a converted try for a 37-36 victory in an extraordinary match on an extraordinary weekend for the competition.
"They’ll take confidence from that," Ta’avao said. "They probably should have won that game. Some of their young players really stood up. A young bloke from here, Caleb Tangitau, took a few opportunities.
"There will be a few chips on their shoulders – the big city slickers, as they call us, going down to play under the roof. I think they’ll try to play fast and physical. You know what you’re going to get from them and the crowd."
As for round one itself — an opening weekend in which all five victors fought back from deficits — Ta’avoa said it was exactly what the competition required.
"It’s a bit sad when you look at the people at the Rebels who have lost their jobs but the silver lining is the strength of the competition… they were exciting scorelines, they’re close.
"I don’t read too much into the comments because I’ve been ripped enough in my career but some of the things I did see were that it’s one of the most exciting rounds of Super Rugby in years. That’s what we need in this competition."
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