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Umaga heaps praise on gutsy Blues
By Online Editors
Blues head coach Tana Umaga was full of praise for his team's fighting spirit which saw them register their first victory of the season against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Blues trailed the Lions 3-21 towards the end of the first half. However, the Auckland based team stormed back in the second half to win the game 38-35 courtesy of a try in the 79th minute to replacement loose forward Murphy Taramai.
The win was the Blues' first victory over the Lions since 2012 and one which Umaga rates as one of the greatest victories he has been involved in as head coach of the Blues.
"It has to rate right up there," Umaga told reporters after the game.
Umage added: "The way we ground that [win] out was probably something that we’ve been working on really hard and also our belief and confidence to just keep playing. I was very happy with the way the boys and the leaders within the group stood up. They didn’t want to back down they knew that they just wanted to stay in it."
The Blues have been on the receiving end of many last minute tries which resulted in a defeat in the past and they lost their opening two games of this season's Super Rugby campaign by small margins - 34-41 against the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium followed by a 21-27 defeat against the Chiefs at Eden Park.
Umaga was relieved that the Blues were finally able to be on the other side of a winning try in the final minute of the game.
The Blues now travel to Cape Town where they will do battle with the Stormers in a Super Rugby Round Five clash. Umaga added that his team will take plenty of confidence from the victory over the Lions.
However, he also pointed out that his team will have to show consistency in their performance when they play the Stormers.
"We know having one win doesn't necessarily make the season. In saying that it's confidence building for us, so going forward there are some really good things to come out of this.
"We know we've got to get back on track in Cape Town and do it again," said Umaga.
By Josh Isaacson
Courtest of @rugby365com
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Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
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