Leon MacDonald looks on bright side of Blues' second loss of Super Rugby Pacific season

The Blues coach was notably upbeat in the wake of Saturday’s 34-28 defeat to the Crusaders at Eden Park that cut nowhere near as deep as last June’s crushing loss to the same side at the same venue in the competition final.

Last June the Blues had ridden a remarkable 15-game win streak into the final against the Crusaders, and were crushed by a 21-7 dismantling at the hands of the southerners. But MacDonald is adamant he saw enough positive signs in Saturday’s loss to feel confident that another winning run might be just around the corner.

Saturday’s defeat, in front of a crowd of 23,990 for their home opener, drops the Blues to 2-2 (and 11 points) for the 2023 regular season, with plenty still to do to nail down important things like home finals come playoff time.

But MacDonald was far from downcast after his team literally let victory slip through their fingers as they bombed two potentially match-winning tries late in the contest. On a night where they ran for more metres (744-604), made twice as many clean breaks (10-5) and had a decided edge in the possession battle, the Blues coach felt important progress had been made, despite an eighth defeat on the bounce to the Cantabs at Eden Park.

“We came out of the sheds at halftime under a lot of pressure,” said MacDonald of the bizarre situation that saw the Blues reduced to 13 men by prop Jordan Lay’s yellow card just before the break because it forced uncontested scrums. ”We showed a really spirited second half, a lot of guts and character, to all but take it, just losing that ball over the line a couple of times.

“There were little moments that didn’t quite go our way, but I feel we are getting better. I can see it in the way we are training, I can see it in the way the leaders are stepping up throughout the week. There’s plenty of good stuff we can be proud of there.”

The Blues coach said it was far from a “back to the drawing board” scenario for this week’s Sunday matchup against the Western Force back at Eden Park, even if he is likely to rest a large chunk of All Blacks as they approach their quota of consecutive games.

“We’re shifting the ball into space a lot better than what we have done. We’ve been guilty of seeking contact, and I thought we found more space through the way we kicked and passed, and our breakdown area was a lot better than the last couple of weeks. If we can continue to get good growth in these areas, it’s going to cause a lot of trouble for a lot of teams.”

In a quality encounter against a desperate Crusaders outfit staring down the barrel of a third loss in their first four games, MacDonald felt the Blues showed the effort and commitment required.

“You can’t just walk out and turn it on. You’ve got to prepare well. We’re seeing some good stuff happen off the field,” he said. “We won plenty of games last year we probably could have or should have lost. You take those and know on another day it’s not going to happen. This was one of those days.

“We didn't get the rub of the green in a few areas, and we know if we’re a bit better we could have won that game. We just start again, and keep committing to getting better. We are growing every week. We had a lot of reserve players who haven’t had a lot of rugby play for the A team, and they’re going to get called upon because we’ve got injuries and we’ve got All Blacks rest coming up. The squad is going to be critical over the next three to four weeks.”

MacDonald is likely to have to dig deep among his props, with Alex Hodgman (shoulder) and James Lay (ankle) leaving the field early on Saturday, and unlikely starters this week. He’s hopeful All Black Ofa Tuungafasi could be back from a head knock that has kept him out for the past few rounds.

“For Nepo [Laulala] to come on as early as he did, and still be scrapping hard in the scrum in the 78th minute is a real credit to a guy who has put a lot of work in to his fitness and mobility,” added MacDonald. “Jordan Lay came on early as well, and adapted well. I thought our bench gave us some really good punch – Tom Robinson came on at lock and was in the game, Kurt Eklund had impact, and Bryce Heem was fantastic in midfield and gave us some really good go-forward.

“There were positives around the squad turning up and that’s going to be important as we go into the middle grind of the season.”