The Blues fell to the Brumbies last night - and failed to score a try in a Super Rugby game for the first time in their 18 year history.
It was another abysmal loss away from home - they have failed to win away from New Zealand since 2012 now and leaves coach John Kirwan scratching his head at why his team can be so good at times especially at home, but so appalling away from it that they can lose to the likes of the Lions and Force away from home - their defence on Friday night was porous to say the least and they made silly mistakes when they had the ball.
The depth of talent in the Blues is unquestionable but that has been the same case for much of the Blues' 18 year history. Other than the first three years and 2003 when the Blues had Graham Henry as coach or technical director, the Blues have definitely underperformed despite being based in New Zealand's most populous city and at times with the strongest provincial rugby union in the country, i.e. Auckland.
In this current Super Rugby era now, players from the Auckland NPC side can now move to other franchises meaning that the Blues are not necessarily representative of its franchise unions - the likes of Taranaki's Kane Barrett are outside the Blues' traditional franchise boundaries.
Still, this Blues side has a strong Auckland/North Harbour contingent with the odd Northlander so the Blues still have the deepest pool in New Zealand rugby - perhaps only Canterbury can argue against that.
So why have the Blues underperformed for so long? Is it the Auckland curse that seems to befall the likes of other Auckland based franchises, e.g. the Warriors, the Mystics and earlier in their lifetime, the Breakers? Perhaps the pressure of being based in New Zealand's largest city, meaning logically they should be the best hasn't been good for the Blues as well as the distractions in living in such a large city.
Indeed, Hamilton and Christchurch, home of the Chiefs and Crusaders, are still big cities by New Zealand standards but definitely have far less distractions than the big smoke. I guess it's easier to focus on the rugby and personal life with less distractions at hand.
It's far too early to press the panic button at Eden Park but John Kirwan will be demanding some soul searching over the bye week if the Blues are to avoid being irrelevant at the business end of Super Rugby season once again.
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