A rattled Dalton Papalii conceded the Blues had a mental block when it came to facing the Crusaders.
The Blues’ skipper, and departing coach Leon MacDonald, unsurprisingly cut dejected figures as they attempted to make sense of their season being terminated in such brutal fashion by the reigning champions.
“I don’t have the words,” Papalii started his post-match interview with, as the autopsy of his team’s embarrassing 52-15 semifinal defeat to the Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday night got underway.
Outscored six tries to two, both of which were nothing more than consolation tries on a night the Crusaders put a half ton on the Blues for a third time, Papalii did eventually have words – plenty of them.
In addition to admitting the Blues had a mental block when it came to the red and blacks, he rued the fact the Leon MacDonald era had ended without a fully-fledged title, and felt it was the best Crusaders’ performance he’d been on the end of.
He also took aim at his team’s play, including his own, as a second straight season ended at the hands of the Crusaders, who have now won 18 of the last 19 matches between the sides.
“I think the messaging was there before the game. But out there, I think the buy in wasn’t there….and it showed in the first couple of minutes, we were getting back shoulder passes, boys just weren’t doing the basics,” he rued.
”I’m not pointing fingers. I was out there as well, I was a bit too frantic, trying to do too much.”
On the back of four first half tries, the last of which Codie Taylor scored on the hooter, the game was as good as dead when the Crusaders took a 32-3 lead into the sheds.
However, despite Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson having the luxury of going to the bench early with next weekend’s final on his mind, the hosts didn’t relent as their already injury-hit side piled on more misery.
“It’s tough. We tried to keep it real simple in the changing room. I’m not going to say what we said, but at the end of the day, we just wanted to show a bit of pride in the jersey and what it means to us,” Papalii said.
As MacDonald pointed out, the Crusaders won the match through their carry and clean out intensity, something captain Scott Barrett and Taylor led, along with immense performances from the likes of rookie No 8 Christian Lio-Willie and flanker Sione Havili-Talitui.
“They didn’t look very depleted tonight in the way they played, did they?” MacDonald said.
He was right. To think 12 injured players, including eight All Blacks, were forced to watch the demolition job from the sideline, yet the Crusaders made mincemeat of their opponents.
MacDonald couldn’t hide his frustration that it took the Blues about 65 minutes to find their feet at the contact area, but was adamant they are a better team than the scoreline indicated.
“I think just understanding that step. Round-robin play is all good and well, but the Crusaders, they will test you, and you’ve got to have your mindset tough, and it’s the dark arts of the game they’re so good at,” he said.
