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Blues aim to send Kaino off in style
By Online Editors
The Blues will aim to give long-serving star Jerome Kaino a fitting send-off in his final game for the club when they take on the champion Crusaders in his last Super Rugby clash in Christchurch on Saturday.
Kaino, who will head to France and join Toulouse after the season, will play his 139th game for the Blues on Saturday.
The Blues are focused on a quality performance against the best team in the competition.
“This game means a lot. We want to send Jerome off in the best possible fashion,” said coach Tana Umaga. “We are going into a cauldron in Christchurch, but we have to go with eyes wide open and also take confidence from the game last week.
“We’ve worked on the areas that were pretty obvious in terms of our defence but there will be no lack of motivation to play against the Crusaders.
“Our forward effort was good last week but we know it needs to go another notch and I think some of the play by our backs, that in tough times they started to find their confidence.
“For us we have to do well on both sides of the ball. We had some individual lapses in defence and that’s something we’ve worked on.
“We need to stick to what we train. We need to be consistent in the execution of our plans and finish off opportunities when we create them. They are a quality side and have been for a long time but we are excited to get out there and do our best for us and for Jerome.”
The only change from the pack from last week is a start for Ben Nee-Nee after an injury to replacement Matiaha Martin ruled him out, while the backline remains the same.
BLUES
15. Matt Duffie, 14. Melani Nanai, 13. Michael Collins, 12. Rieko Ioane, 11. Caleb Clarke, 10. Stephen Perofeta, 9. Augustine Pulu (C); 8. Akira Ioane, 7. Blake Gibson, 6. Jerome Kaino, 5. Ben Nee-Nee, 4. Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3. Ofa Tuungafasi, 2. Matt Moulds, 1. Alex Hodgman
Reserves: 16. Ross Wright, 17. Pauliasi Manu, 18. Sione Mafileo, 19. Jacob Pierce, 20. Murphy Taramai, 21. Sam Nock, 22. Bryn Gatland, 23. Tamati Tua.
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