3
Anybody who was being realistic saw that game as a dress rehearsal for the Blues, and there were some things going on that would make us quietly confident about this week's game.
Our set piece (in general) held one of the best units in the comp to parity (and put on a clinic in scrummaging IMHO) the only reason that Saders went to dodgy tactics in the scrum was because they weren't able to cope on an even footing. the fact that Hoffman ignored their illegal, dangerous play even in the face of a serious injury resulting from it will surely have the next ref looking at our scrum a bit more favourably.
We held the Saders out for long periods with good scrambling cover defense, the Blues aren't mugs, but they're not the Crusaders either. It's conceivable that we could improve markedly on that result against a team that tries more risky stuff and has a habit of shooting itself in the foot under pressure.
Our two tries came from good Force play (yes I know one was an intercept, but it was a good read by Alex Newsome when Marcel rushed out of the line to pressure the passer that made it happen. We are capable of scoring points in New Zealand and the Blues can get leaky in defense at times.
If we fix a couple of the glaring errors from Saturday I think we have a good chance this week.
Either attack the ball on the floor or hit them with high line speed, you can't mis both of those trains.
keep our eyes up in attack, use the pick 'n' drive when their A defenders are wide, use the short kick or wide pass to beat the rush
Keep ball in hand, or at the very least kick to a contest, all Kiwi teams love to counterattack, particularly against broken Aussie D Lines, don't let them
Win the contact, both with and without the footy.