Comment: The Blues failed to live up to the hype in a late capitulation against the Hurricanes, despite Roger Tuivasa-Sheck impressing in his long-awaited Super Rugby debut, writes Jamie Wall.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck dejected after the Blues' loss to the Hurricanes. Photo: Photosport
Last night's thriller at Forsyth Barr Stadium proved one thing for certain: it's not how you start, but how you finish. The Blues managed to dominate almost all of the match against the Hurricanes, only to watch everything they'd built come crashing down around them in a pulsating 33-32 loss.
This was a game that had a ton of attention on it. It's just that it wasn't on whether who would win or lose, rather on Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and his (very) long-awaited debut. The presumption that the Blues would get away with the result was held by most. After all, the hype around them in the off season was immense and something they haven't exactly shied away from. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, it's good to be confident.
And they certainly played with confidence, bullying the Hurricanes by making them do a whole half's worth of tackling in the first 15 minutes. However, literally the first time the Hurricanes got their hands on the ball they scored and somehow took the lead through an intercept by Salesi Rayasi. The Blues hit back to be ahead at halftime, but the main chatter was about how Tuivasa-Sheck wasn't just looking at home in the midfield, more how he was looking like the best player on the park.
The Blues got him involved early and often. The former Warriors captain threw a lovely offload to Rieko Ioane only minutes in that almost resulted in a try, then made several telling runs. He contained his opposite, the very trim looking Julian Savea, and looked every bit the player that the Blues had hoped he'd be. Everything was going according to plan when Sam Darry, another talked-up signing from last year, dove over a ruck to score what looked like the match-clinching try in the 69th minute.
Ardie Savea scores the winning try against the Blues. Photo: Photosport
It gave the Blues a three score lead, but also somehow turned them into a set of turnstiles for the remainder of the game. Rayasi completed a hat trick, making a mockery of his consistent non selection ever since he signed with the Hurricanes, then Tuivasa-Sheck made his only error of the entire game in the 80th minute. He lined up 39-year-old veteran Ben May instead of spotting a flying Bailyn Sullivan looming up behind him. May popped a perfect little pass to his centre, the bad read meant Tuivasa-Sheck was left grasping at thin air while Ardie Savea collected Sullivan's pass to score the match-winning try under the posts.
That's how cruel the game can be. Had the ball bounced a different way just once, today's columns would be about how Tuivasa-Sheck had made a seamlessly perfect transition back to the code he played at high school. Instead, it's about how his Blues team threw the game away.
The win by the Hurricanes now makes the all time match record between them and the Blues 19-18 to the Canes with one draw. Points scored is 1007-954 to the Blues. It is, on paper at least, the most competitive rivalry in Super Rugby history.
The most compelling aspect of the Hurricanes win was that it wasn't reliant on Jordie Barrett, who had been subbed off when the miracle comeback happened. Ruben Love had his best game so far, while Bailyn Sullivan must be pretty happy at getting one over his brother Zarn, who had a useful game at fullback for the Blues. The Hurricanes will be getting better with the return of TJ Perenara and Dane Coles in coming weeks.
But this definitely wasn't what Blues fans had been hoping for over summer. They will need to ice moments like that if they are to beat the impressive Crusaders and have a shot at the title. And while he showed more than enough to convince any remaining doubters that he will be a handful going forward, the irony of Tuivasa-Sheck suffering a Warriors-like capitulation in his first game wasn't lost on many.