Blues Set for Season Opener

[Darren]

Pat Lam’s reign as head coach will start in earnest this evening when the Blues take on the Western Force in the opening round of the Rebel Sport Super 14.

With a new coach, a new captain and a host of new players, the Blues will be an unknown entity as they attempt to kick-start their overseas campaign with a vital win over their Australian counterparts.

The heat has played a crucial factor in Lam’s preparations for the match as temperatures soared to 40°c this week in Perth, but he is confident the team has done everything they can to acclimatise.

“It’s a challenge but the guys know it’s going to be there and they just have to get out and overcome it,” Lam said.

“On the advice of the medical staff and the trainers we’ve been controlling how much we do to ensure we get over the travel factor and deal with the heat.”

The Blues may be without a number of key players in Ali Williams, Joe Rokocoko, Rudi Wulf and Jerome Kaino, but with a front row featuring All Blacks John Afoa, Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock as well as an electrifying back three combination, they have tremendous potential.

“The main thing is that we clearly know what we’re trying to do as a team and each individual knows what his role is,” Lam said.

“It’s been more organizational since we finished the Highlanders (pre-season) game, just putting together the plans and the way we want to play and I’m pretty pleased with the work that’s gone in.”

Yet the Blues are not the only team with injury concerns as the Force also juggle a number a number of issues.

Off-field dramas and a saga surrounding head coach John Mitchell have dogged the West Australian franchise, while they have also been hit by injury with Josh Valentine, Junior Pelesasa, Justin Turner, Scott Staniforth, Sam Wkyes and Ben Castle all ruled out for the season opener.

But Lam still thinks the Blues will have to be at the top of their game to come away with a victory at Subiaco Oval.

“The biggest strength they have is that they’ve been together for a while with Mitch (John Mitchell) so there’s a lot of structure they can continue to build on.

“Also with Matt Giteau, Nathan Sharpe and David Pocock they’ve got some quality players in key positions really so it’s vital that we work as a team to nullify that and really put our game out there.”

Kick off is at 11:45pm (NZT) on Friday night.

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[robyn <3]

They wish Jellyfish. They should be being setting themselves for a pummeling