Kirwan not worried by Blues losses

Editor

Blues boss John Kirwan was disappointed by his side's errors in their 43-19 pre-season trial defeat to the Chiefs in Rotorua.

Blues boss John Kirwan was disappointed by his side's errors in their 43-19 pre-season trial defeat to the Chiefs in Rotorua.

“We just needed to hang onto the ball a wee bit more, we were putting ourselves under pressure with our individual skill,” Kirwan told SANZAR.

“When we hang onto the ball we can get through the phases and look good but when you hold onto the ball for two phases then turn it over you're just putting yourselves under the pump. We need to have a bit more personal pride around our individual skill.”

Indeed, when the Blues clicked, they were dangerous, Charles Piutau bagging an electric three-minute brace.

“That's the sort of stuff that we can do, that was Blues rugby,” added Kirwan.

“Getting front foot ball doing what we do well and I thought we got right back in the game and then we got back down there and gave away a penalty and they scored straight after which was a momentum shift.

“It's terribly frustrating when you know that if you can hang onto the ball you can create pressure. When you create pressure you can do heaps. We've got a little bit of work to do but I'm pretty happy that we'll be right for next week.

“I thought set piece was good and I was really happy with the way the ruck went, we picked that up from last week but we just need to put the complete game together and I guess we'll save that for next week hopefully.

“It was great to see Charles Piutau hitting form and we got Francis out there for 50 minutes, Charlie Faumuina got a start and Steven Luatua played for 50 when we were expecting 40 so they were real positives for us.”

The Chiefs hammering was the Blues' third straight loss in pre-season, but Kirwan is not alarmed.

“I'm really confident in what we're doing,” revealed Kirwan.

“Take 10 handling errors out of tonight and she's a different game of football, we just need to make sure the players take their responsibility and each of those guys who turned over the ball need to take a good look at themselves for next week.”