Why the Blues' triple playmaker experiment wasn't successful despite victory over Bulls

The Blues will be counting down the days, and probably the minutes, until the coming of Beauden Barrett.

Despite some media claiming the ‘experiment’ of fielding three playmakers against the Bulls in Pretoria was a success, a close review of the tape showed that not to be the case.

Individually, Stephen Perofeta at fullback and Otere Black played well, the latter slotting the late winning goal. But Harry Plummer’s impact at second five was negligible. Not that he played poorly, but he is just not suited to the No 12 jersey, even if he can tackle well enough and pass well.

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Black was unavailable due to injury for the Blues’ opening three games. His forte is his goalkicking, and he came up trumps in the clutch at Loftus on a return of three from five off the tee. However, his kicking for touch, like Plummer’s, is iffy. That was the case at Loftus, but why this should be so is as mysterious as why the Blues have made the playoffs just twice in the last 16 seasons.

That said, Black did several good things against the Bulls. His crosskick for Matt Duffie, superbly taken by the wing, led to Stephen Perofeta’s try, and his thrust and pass ignited the Blues on their final play before he stepped up and silenced the Loftus faithful.

But let’s be clear: Otere Black is not going to fire this Blues backline, which has speed merchants such as Joe Marchant and Mark Telea champing at the bit for space. Black has never passed fluently, but his kicking off the tee means he will have to wear the No 10 jersey until Barrett’s return in around six weeks.