Blues captain Dalton Papali'i has lamented basic errors in their Super Rugby Pacific semi-final defeat to the champion Crusaders at Christchurch.
Their season once again ends at the hands of their longtime rivals, with the Crusaders recording an emphatic 52-15 victory.
The Blues went into the fixture as underdogs, but few saw the match playing out the way it did, with the Crusaders cutting the visitors to pieces early on.
By halftime, the game was all but over, with the Crusaders racing to a 32-3 lead at the break to stun the Blues.
While their defence struggled to contain the waves of red and black attacks, Papali'i pitched their lack of response in possession as their biggest downfall.
"When somebody gets over the line early on, it's always a bit of a setback, but we tried not to panic and win the next moment.
"I think our messaging was a bit off, where we tried to get too fancy, tried to do tip passes, inside passes, back passes and, at the end of the day, it's basics that win the game.
"You can just see how the Crusaders won the game, just their basics. They're physical in the cleans, they're physical in their carries and once they get go-forward, their backs just light it up out wide.
"We just tried to get too fancy early on, and it's the basics that win games and I live by that."
The result leaves the Blues again on the outside looking in, after last year's final defeat to the Crusaders at Eden Park.
Despite an unwanted record against the perennial winners and an earlier playoffs exit than 2022, Papali'i isn't convinced the Blues have regressed.
"I think we've had our ups and downs," he said. "Last year, we had a pretty good run, [but] even though we went 15-1, we were just winning games in the last minute or even 80-plus.
"This year, some games didn't go our way. A lot of boys had ABs rest weeks, some boys got injured, and we've just been chopping and changing.
"The good thing about that is that we can see our depth. Boys coming in, like Cam Suafoa, Adrian Choat, and James Tucker... they're lifting the standard.
"It gives you confidence that when boys do go out of the team, because of injury or rest weeks, we can rely on those lads to come in.
"They've earned their spot, it's good to see that, but it's hard to get momentum, when there's a lot of chopping and changing."
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