Blues (rugby union)

This article is about the New Zealand rugby team. For the Welsh regional rugby team, see Cardiff Blues.

Blues

Unions	New Zealand Rugby Union
Founded	1996
Location	Auckland, New Zealand
Region	Auckland North Harbour Northland
Ground(s)	Eden Park (Capacity: 50,000)
Coach(es)	Pat Lam
Captain(s)	Keven Mealamu
League(s)	Super Rugby
2011	4th
Team kit 2nd kit

Blues (formerly the Auckland Blues) are a professional New Zealand rugby union team based in Auckland, New Zealand which represents the Northland, North Harbour and Auckland unions in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby sides, the Blues were established by the NZRU in 1996. The Blues won the competition in each of its first two seasons, 1996 and 1997, and lost narrowly to the Canterbury Crusaders in the 1998 final at Eden Park. The team's initial burst of success was followed by a period of modest success, before a resurgent side went on to win the 2003 competition, defeating the Crusaders in the final. Since the expansion of the competition to fourteen sides in 2006, the Blues have had mixed results. The side's two playoff appearances since then came in 2007, when they lost to the Sharks in the semi-final in Durban, and in 2011 when they were defeated in the semi-final by the eventual champions the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.

History

Formation and Early Years (1994 - 1997)

The team's logo from 1996-2000, when the franchise dropped the Auckland prefix from its official name

Along with New Zealand's other Super Rugby sides, the Blues were established by the NZRU to take part in the newly formed Super 12 competition which, involved provincial teams from South Africa and Australia in addition to New Zealand. Each of New Zealand's five sides represented a number of provincial unions, with the Blues representing the Auckland, Thames Valley, and the Counties Manukau unions, while the neighbouring Waikato Chiefs representing the Waikato, North Harbour, Northland, Bay of Plenty and King Country unions. During this era, the Blues played the majority of their home matches at Eden Park, with round robin fixtures occasionally held at Growers Stadium in Pukekohe.

The Blues tasted immediate success, winning the Super 12 back-to-back in 1996 and 1997. In 1996 the side won eight of eleven round robin matches and finished the regular season in second place (behind the Queensland Reds on 41 points. They then went on to defeat Northern Transvaaal, now the Bulls, 48-11 in the semi-final at Eden Park. This result secured a home final, where the Blues comfortably defeated the Natal Sharks 45-21. In 1997, the side improved on their previous season, comfortably topping the table with 50 points after going undefeated in the regular season, the sole blemish on an otherwise perfect season being a draw with Northern Transvaal in a re-match of thh previous season's semi-final. The Blues once again easily won their semi-final, defeating the Natal Sharks 55-36 at Eden Park and again securing a home final. The 1997 final was a more hard fought encounter than the previous year's, with the Blues defeating the ACT Brumbies 23-7. With three championships and two further semi-final appearances, the Blues are the second most successful team in Super Rugby history.

Middle Years (1998 - 2005)

By the end of the 1990s the number of international from the Blues' region had decreased. This led the Blues and the Chiefs to arrange a swap, where the Chiefs would represent the Thames Valley and Counties Manukau unions in exchange for the Blues representing the Northland and North Harbour unions in addition to Auckland. Although in the seasons leading up to the trade North Harbour and Northland had outperformed Counties Manukau and Thames Valley in provincial rugby (thus potentially widening the already sizeable gap between the Blues' and Chiefs' on-field performance), it enabled both teams to represent unions in closer geographical proximity. Because of this trade, the Blues lost the area colloquially referred to as South Auckland, (excluding those portions of the South Auckland to the north of Manurewa). Thus, the Blues traded a portion of South Auckland for the Northern portion of the Auckland region and Northland, and still do not represent the entire Auckland region. In 2000 all of New Zealand's Super 12 franchises dropped the regional identifiers from their official names.

The 1998 season saw the Blues again top the points table with 43 points at the conclusion of the round robin, with nine wins and two losses to their credit. They defeated the Otago Highlanders by 37-31 in the side's third consecutive home semi-final, securing a home final against the Crusaders, a match which promised a great deal due to Auckland's traditional sporting rivalry with Canterbury. The Crusaders ultimately won the match by 20-13, putting an end to the Blues' dominance of the competition.

From 1999 - 2002 the Blues' onfield performance was poor, missing the playoffs every season, finishing at an all time low of 11th on the ladder in 2001 with just four wins for the season. The franchise was able to turn its from around in the 2003 season, topping the ladder with 49 points and 10 wins from 11 matches. The team went on to defeat the ACT Brumbies by 42-21 in the semi-final, before beating the Crusaders 21-17 in the final for the franchise's third Super Rugby title. The Blues were unable to follow their 2003 success up in 2004 and 2005 however, missing the playoffs in both seasons.

Super 14 Era (2006 - 2010)

The expanded 14 team competition couldn't have started worse for the Blues, who were in 2006 forced by the NZRU to include North Harbour captain Rua Tipoki in their squad of 24 players who are 'protected' from the draft. Tipoki was originally to be excluded from the draft due to personal circumstances in order to stay in Auckland. Andrew Mehrtens had in the past done this with the Crusaders. The NZRU however forced coach David Nucifora to pick Tipoki in his 24 man squad and hence drop another player. It is believed the NZRU was in favour of dropping players such as Isa Nacewa who are ineligible to play for the All Blacks. Instead, Nucifora excluded All Black Isaia Toeava, who subsequently played for the Hurricanes in 2006. Following the draft fiasco, and the forgettable season which followed, the Blues showed signs of resurgence in 2007, finishing the round robin in fourth place, securing a semi-final against the Sharks in Durban. The travel and form of the opposition were too difficult to overcome, however, with the Blues losing to the eventual runners-up by 34 - 18. The 2008 season, the final under coach David Nucifora, saw the team finish the season with an 8 - 5 record and a sixth place finish on the ladder. In 2009, Pat Lam was appointed as coach, however the team have not been able to make significant improvements under his leadership, missing the playoffs in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Super Rugby Era (2011 - present)

2011 Season

In 2011 the Super Rugby competition was expanded to 15 teams and adopted a conference format. The Blues had a successful start to the season, defeating the Crusaders by 24-22 at Eden Park. This was followed by a win and a loss on their Southa African tour, followed by a 22-all draw against the Western Force in Perth. This was followed by a seven match winning streak between rounds five and twelve. However, the mid-season winning streak came to an abrupt end with a 37-31 loss to the Queensland Reds in Brisbane, which initiated a four match losing-streak. In the final round-robin match of the season, the Blues defeated the Highlanders by 33-16 at Eden Park, securing the side's first playoff appearance since 2007 and first home playoff match since 2003. The team subsequently defeated the New South Wales Waratahs 26 - 13 to secure a semi-final against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane, which they lost 30 - 13.

The 2011 season also marked the departure of Kurtis Haiu, who was diagnosed with a bone tumour in April . Following his diagnosis, he took an indefinite break from rugby in order to focus on his health .

2012 Season

Main article: 2012 Blues (rugby union) season

2012, the team's fourth season under coach Pat Lam, saw the arrival of former Hurricanes icons, and 2011 Rugby World Cup winners, Ma'a Nonu and Piri Weepu. The regular season began on February 24th against the Crusaders at Eden Park. Following two successive losses to start the season, the side's first victory came away to the Bulls, with starting debutant Gareth Anscombe scoring all of the Blues points in the 29-23 win. In doing so, Anscombe set a team record for most points in a match . In the same match, Rene Ranger became the first Blues player to receive a White Card.

Stadium

Final design for the Eden Park redevelopment, with work completed in 2011.

The team's primary home ground is Eden Park, located in the central Auckland suburb of Kingsland. The stadium has a capacity of 50,000. In addition to hosting Blues home matches, the ground is the home of the Auckland Rugby Football Union and Auckland Cricket, and is a frequent host of All Blacks matches, and hosted the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-finals, third-place playoff, and final .

In addition to Eden Park, Blues home matches are occasionally held at North Harbour Stadium, home of the North Harbour Rugby Union, and Okara Park, home of the Northland Rugby Union.

Blues Region Information

Since 1999, the Blues have represented the Auckland, North Harbour, and Northland rugby unions. Despite being owned by the NZRU, Auckland have a 55% stake in the team, with North Harbour having a 25% stake and Northland 20%. Up to and including 2010, all New Zealand-based Super Rugby sides were able to protect 24 players from within their region each season. Players not protected by the Blues could be selected by any of the other four New Zealand teams for that season, while the Blues were also able to bring in players from other regions for the season. The team had predominantly drawn its players from its own unions, with the vast majority of players hailing from Auckland, however in recent years several notable players have been signed from outside the region, such as Stephen Brett (Canterbury) and Alby Mathewson (Wellington).

From 2011 onwards, the NZRU has relaxed the rules imposed on teams in terms of player recruitment. New Zealand teams will move to a direct-contracting recruitment format, which will enable each team to field two foreign (non-New Zealand or Pacific Island) players each season, in addition to squad sizes increasing from 28 to 32 players. With the wider training groups taken into account, each team will have a 40 man squad.

The current Blues (and Auckland Rugby Football Union) CEO is former Counties and New Zealand player Andy Dalton. Along with Dalton, Greg Muir, Grant Fox, Gary Whetton, Geoff Vazey, Mike Budd, John Morgan and Andrew Golightly make up the Blues board.

2012 Squad and Management

Wider Training Group

• James Parsons (North Harbour)
• Steven Luatua (Auckland)
• Wayne Ngaluafe (Northland)
• Sean Polwart (Auckland)
• Daniel Pryor (Northland)
• Francis Saili (Auckland)

In for 2012

• Ma'a Nonu from Hurricanes via Ricoh Black Rams
• Rudi Wulf from Toulon
• Piri Weepu from Hurricanes
• Michael Hobbs from Wellington
• Pauliasi Manu from Auckland
• Angus Ta'avao from Auckland
• Gareth Anscombe from Auckland
• George Moala from Auckland
• David Raikuna from North Harbour

Out for 2012

Transferred

• John Afoa to Ulster
• Stephen Brett to Toyota Verblitz
• Luke McAlister to Toulouse
• Winston Stanley to Western Force
• Joe Rokocoko to Bayonne
• Jared Payne to Ulster
• Chris Smylie to Hurricanes
• James King to Melbourne Rebels

Dropped from squad

• Kurtis Haiu (Indefinite medical leave)
• Mathew Luamanu
• Toby Morland

Head Coach

• Pat Lam

Assistant Coaches

• Bryce Woodward
• Liam Barry
• Mike Casey

Additional Staff

Name Position Bryce Anderson Manager Craig Lister Assistant Manager Stephen Kara Doctor Mike Plummer Physiotherapist Ashley Draper Assistant Physiotherapist Mark Harvey Head Strength and Conditioning Coach

Name Position Tracy Kircaldy Nutritionist Troy Webber Video Analyist Grant Aickin Assistant Video Analyist Nick Sheppard High Performance Manager Ben Meyer Professional Development Manager

Past Captains

• Zinzan Brooke (1996-1997)
• Michael Jones (1998)
• Robin Brooke (1999-2001)
• Glenn Taylor (2002)
• Xavier Rush (2003-2005)
• Keven Mealamu (2006)
• Troy Flavell (2007-2008)

Past Coaches

• Graham Henry (1996–1998)
• Jed Rowlands (1999)
• Gordon Hunter (2000)
• Frank Oliver (2001)
• Peter Sloane (2002–2005)
• David Nucifora (2006–2008)

Records and Achievements

Individual Records

• Most Tries in a Match: 4 (Joeli Vidiri - 2000 vs. Bulls, Mils Muliaina - 2002 vs. Bulls, Doug Howlett - 2002 vs. Hurricanes)
• Most Goals in a Match: 9 (Carlos Spencer - 2002 vs. Bulls, Nick Evans - 2008 vs Lions, Stephen Brett, 2010 vs. Lions)
• Most Points in a Match: 29 (Gareth Anscombe - 2012 vs. Lions)

Team Records

• Biggest Win: 60 - 7 (2002 vs. Hurricanes at Westpac Stadium)
• Biggest Loss: 13 - 51 (1996 vs. Queensland Reds at Ballymore)
• Most Points in a Season: 435 (1997)
• Fewest Points in a Season: 202 (1999)
• Highest Regular Season Placing: 1st (1996, 1997, 2003)
• Lowest Regular Season Placing: 11th (2001)

Overall Team Record

• Games played: 205
• Games won: 123
• Games lost: 78
• Games drawn: 4
• Winning percentage: 60%
• Points for: 5788
• Points against: 4849

Placing History

Super 12/14 Results
Year	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	PF	PA	Diff	BP	Points	Place	Playoffs
1996	11	8	0	3	408	354	+54	9	41	1st	(defeated Sharks in final)
1997	11	10	1	0	435	283	+152	8	50	1st	(defeated ACT Brumbies in final)
1998	11	9	0	2	388	298	+90	7	43	2nd	(lost to Crusaders in final)
1999	11	4	1	6	202	201	+1	5	23	9th
2000	11	6	0	5	300	262	+38	6	30	6th
2001	11	4	0	7	243	298	-55	5	21	11th
2002	11	6	0	5	318	249	+69	5	29	6th
2003	11	10	0	1	393	185	+208	9	49	1st	(defeated Crusaders in final)
2004	11	6	1	4	337	309	+28	6	32	5th
2005	11	6	0	5	243	216	+27	3	27	7th
2006	13	6	0	7	290	348	-58	5	29	8th
2007	13	9	0	4	355	235	+120	6	42	4th	(lost to Sharks in semi final)
2008	13	8	0	5	354	267	+87	8	40	6th
2009	13	5	0	8	339	369	-30	12	32	9th
2010	13	7	0	6	376	333	+43	9	37	7th

Super Rugby Results
Year	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	PF	PA	Diff	BP	Points	Place	Playoffs
2011	16	9	1	5	405	335	+70	10	60	4th	(lost to Queensland Reds in semi-final)

Honours

Super 12/14 Honours

• Champions

1996, 1997, 2003

• Runners-Up

1998

• Semi-Finalists

2007

Super Rugby Honours

• Semi-Finalists

2011

External links

• Blues website
• Official SANZAR Super Rugby website
• Official New Zealand Super Rugby website

Preceded by Inaugural Champions 2002 - Crusaders

Super 12 Champions 1996 (first title) - 1997 (second title) 2003 (third title)

Succeeded by 1998 - Crusaders 2004 - Brumbies