No Evans but it's Blues heaven after last-gasp win

Blues struck back with a win in the 81st minute against the high-flying Stormers after two consecutive losses. It was a very messy affair on Saturday evening, in front of a good sized crowd of 18,511 – not bad for an Easter weekend clash and the Blues’ first game at Eden Park since round one against the Chiefs five weeks ago.

Much was expected of the side. Nick Evans, who took an elbow to the head the week before in Albany against the Western Force, was named in the squad on Thursday morning, and when I spoke to him the day before the side was announced he was very confident of playing. He had passed all the psychometric testing with flying colours and had also come through full team training unscathed, but after taking part in a physical on Friday, he failed to recover as quickly as doctors and coaching staff would have liked, so they decided to replace him, and Isaia Toeava played No.10 for an already struggling side. Ben Atiga was put in at 13, while Jamie Helleur was on the bench.

The Blues started the match fired up, wanting to bury the demons from the previous two weeks, and after conceding a penalty after three minutes, the Blues attacked phase after phase. Some brilliant passing and running saw Hawkesbay and new Blues No.9 Danny Lee score near the posts. Atiga missed the simple shot so Blues led 5-3. The game was riddled with errors and penalties, most of which were going against the Blues.

Half-time saw Blues lead 14-6, which seemed like a decent margin, considering the Stormers had hardly threatened the Blues line at all so far, and when they did, they either lost possession through handling errors, or the Blues applied such immense pressure, they turned the ball over. With nine minutes left in first 40, Stormers’ Francois Louw was sin-binned, but the Blues were unable to convert the advantage into points.

The second half saw the Blues attack early on but the Stormers met the onslaught with some great defence. Former All Black Tony Brown came on as a replacement for the Stormers, and on only his fourth touch of the night, he set up fullback Conrad Jantjes for a simple but well worked try, which Peter Grant was unable to convert, so Blues remained ahead by a slim three points. Then Blues lock Kurtis Haiu was penalised for punching and Stormers converted to tie the game up at 14 all with eight minutes left.

The Blues got another penalty for the Stormers being offside and the ball appeared to be heading through the posts, but it hit the left-hand upright, bounced clear of three Stormers players into the hands of Blues winger Rudi Wulf. He was then tackled and penalised for not releasing the ball in the tackle, so Stormers got the chance to clear. With time almost up, the Stormers were once again penalised for offside – up stepped Atiga, who from a very similar spot a few minutes earlier had hit the post. With the full time siren having gone off, the fans waited with anticipation as Atiga lined up the kick and belted it over for a narrow 17-14 Blues' victory.

Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus praised his side’s brave performance. Asked if he thought they had missed a chance to capitalise on the Blues since they had decided to leave Evans out at the last minute, he said:  “I think they knew on Monday that he wasn’t going to play – with those sorts of concussions you are either in or you are out. If you’re not at full strength, injuries happen and we had certainly prepared as if he would play. He didn’t play, yet I still think they had a good kicking game.”

Erasmus was also asked if a draw would have been a fair result, to which he replied: “Its difficult to say. It’s tough to lose a game. We are not happy, but we accept that we lost.”

Stormers’ Jean De Villiers did think a draw would have been a fair result, adding: “We still have some momentum in the side and if we can beat the Force next week then we are at home for the next six games so it sets us up nicely.”

Blues’ coach David Nucifora admitted it was not a great win, but said: “In the end it could prove to be a very valuable four points for us. It’s the sort of game where we just want to bank the points and move on to next week’s game, to be honest.”

Asked if he watched the last shot at goal that won the game, Nucifora said:  “Yeah, I watched – it may have looked like I had my hands over my eyes, but I was watching it. You just have to hope things like that go your way.”

Atiga wasn’t worried that it was all down to him in the end after missing that earlier chance. He said: “I had kicked that last attempt from almost the same spot, so I knew what I had done wrong – I was confident I could correct the error this time. I felt really good as I struck it so I knew it was better than the last attempt and I knew it was going over”.

So the Blues win and get their season back on track. Next week they are at home again, this time facing defending Super 14 Champions the Bulls.

Can Bryan Habana and his men stop the Blues? Well, in my mind, no. They have not had the best season so far – thumped by the Crusaders in Pretoria, beaten by the Reds in Brisbane two weeks ago, and being beaten by a weakened Chiefs side in Hamilton in the latest round.

Nick Evans will also return from his injury, so that will bring some back line composure to the Blues. So come on Blues’ fans, get to Eden Park on Saturday night. The game kicks off at 7.35pm sharp, so get behind the boys and cheer them on to another fine win. They lost to Bulls last year by a huge score – let’s not let that happen again.

Ciao for now!