Super Rugby Review: Blues
With the Super Rugby quarter-finalists now decided we take a look at those teams who missed out. Next up, the Blues who finished ninth.
It has been a stop-start season for the Blues as consistency has been their major problem with the side unable to put together a sustained winning run.
Winning under 50 percent of their games (7 from 15), the Blues were by far the worst-performing New Zealand franchise and the only Kiwi outfit not to make the playoffs.
The next worst-performing Kiwi side, in the form of the Highlanders, won 10 of their 14 games, three more than the Blues which shows the gulf in class between the Blues and their compatriots.
To be fair to Tana Umaga's men, six of their seven defeats came only against Kiwi opposition with the other loss coming against the Stormers. And they have shown glimpses of promise, such as in the 22-21 victory over the British and Irish Lions last month.
However, the season-ending meltdown against the Sunwolves in Tokyo was a disastrous way to end the season and appears to have been the last straw for a large proportion of fed-up Blues fans who are now calling for Umaga's head.
The Blues are a side who are vulnerable when playing away from home and the comfort zone that is Eden Park. They have led at half-time in each of their last six games away from home, though they've gone on to win only two of those games.
This habit of squandering half-time leads speaks to a lack of character and fighting spirit in the side as well as a leadership problem. Questions have been raised whether James Parsons is the right man to skipper the side.
However, on a positive note, the emergence of Rieko Ioane as one of the deadliest finishers in World Rugby is a major plus. The 20-year-old is fifth on the try-scoring charts with 10 for the season and has received All Black recognition for his scintillating performances.
His brother Akira has enhanced his reputation as a powerful, ball-carrying back-row while the Blues would have been delighted that Steven Luatua returned to the form that once made him an All Black. He now moves on to Bristol though.
Ultimately, the Blues will be disappointed with their ninth-placed finish. Although it betters 2016 by two places, they remain a side who, despite boasting such an array of potential and talent, are the masters of mediocrity.
Best player: Rieko Ioane has announced himself to the rugby world in emphatic fashion. The youngster, labelled by Steve Hansen as the 'fastest man in New Zealand' had such a good season that he even displaced Julian Savea from the All Blacks starting lineup for the British and Irish Lions series, only to fall ill for the final Test.