Super 15 Rugby

Today's 30-16 victory over Australian conference leaders, the Brumbies, caps off the longest winning streak the Auckland Blues have put together all year - two.

Last week, they convincingly defeated the bottom feeders of the Australian conference, the Western Force in their home finale. These victories kept them out of wooden spoon contention and left Blues fans asking one question: where were these Blues all year?

They weren't perfect, but they definitely played with more accuracy and flair than they have throughout the season. Maybe it's because they had nothing left to lose. Or maybe the players were playing for their beloved coach. Either way, if the Blues had played this kind of rugby more often, this 2012 season could've gone a lot differently.

Injuries to key players have often been fingered as the culprit. Experienced All Blacks such as Keven Mealamu, Ali Williams, Jerome Kaino, Anthony Boric and Isaia Toeava have missed good chunks of the year, with the latter three only managing to play in the opening games. Other notable names on the injury list include promising young players Gareth Anscombe, Charlie Faumuina and David Raikuna.

But these injuries don't excuse the poor execution of the Blues players who remained healthy. The line-out was an absolute disaster. Their timing was off far too often and they lost their own ball with alarming regularity. Balls were often dropped, high balls were allowed to bounce and many of the passes were poor. These are the basic skills that players are taught throughout all levels of rugby and yet these professionals failed to display them.

Lam's selection policy was also very confusing. 41 players donned a Blues jersey this year. Injuries had a hand in many of those selections, but many of them were also one hit wonders who were dropped from the squad after they showed they weren't ready for the step up in competition. Players like George Moala, who had problems with his defensive alignment, Pauliasi Manu, who kept putting his hand on the ground, and even Lam's own nephew Ben Lam, who let high balls bounce, showed that Super Rugby is a big step up from provincial competition.

Perhaps just as confusing were the players who were repeatedly selected despite making constant mistakes. Lachie Munro was always selected for his goal kicking, despite being a liability in defense. Ali Williams was far from the player he used to be and never appeared to put much effort in his game play. In fact, the Blues line-out showed some improvement after his season ending injury.

Regardless of who's coaching next year, whether it be John Kirwan or Kieran Crowley, the Blues roster will be undergoing some big changes. Kaino and Toeava have already indicated that they will be heading to Japan. Many other players have simply not shown good enough form to secure themselves in for roster spots. Apart from those mentioned above, players such as Weepu or Mathewson have not shown the form that led them to All Blacks selections in previous years.

The last two weeks of the season should provide Blues fans with a glimpse of hope. The fine play of Sevens stars Charles Piutau and Sherwin Stowers provide them with possible replacements for the departing Toeava and the possibly departing Rudi Wulf. Steven Luatua appears like he can be a capable replacement for the possibly retiring Anthony Boric and Faumuina reminded us why he was initially selected for the All Blacks squad a few weeks ago.

Hopefully, next season continues on from the way this one ended. New Zealand's biggest rugby market needs a winning team again, or else the Warriors may take more fans away.

There are just two weeks left before Super Rugby takes a break for the international window. After that, there are three more games in the round robin stage.

At this point, we can gain an idea of how the table will look leading into the playoffs.

What's more, this weekend went a long way in influencing where the main contenders will finish.

Early Saturday morning (NZT) the Stormers held out the Waratahs by 19-13. The result effectively removes the Waratahs from contention as they now have to win every remaining game and hope a lot of other results go their way.

Combined with the Bulls' 16-11 loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin, the Stormers now sit at the top of the South African conference.

The two sides will lock horns (and bolts of lightening—I'm not exactly sure what a Stormer would carry) in a fixture that may decide who closes the season out with that mantle.

New Zealand conference leaders the Chiefs had a bye, and the four points gained moved them to the top of the table, almost guaranteeing them a playoff berth since they can drop a full two games before hoping for beneficial results.

In Wellington, the Hurricanes paid the price for resting Beauden Barrett and Faifili Levave, as they went down 25-37 to Australian leaders the Brumbies. The Hurricanes are now six points off the top six, and though they are technically still alive, they are all but guaranteed to miss this year's postseason.

After going down to the Rebels last week, the Crusaders seriously lifted their game with a record 59-12 win over the Blues in Christchurch. With the form they've been showing for most of the season, they will be a very difficult matchup for any opponent.

At this stage, there are a few teams almost certain to qualify for the playoffs:

1. Stormers: 49 points
2. Chiefs: 49
3. Brumbies: 44
4. Bulls: 47
5. Crusaders: 42

The sixth spot will likely be fought out by the Sharks (41), Highlanders (39) and Reds (36) at this stage.

When the Reds and Brumbies face off next week in Canberra, the Reds will have to win. If they manage that, the gap will be closed to four points and the Reds will pick up a guaranteed four points from their Round 15 bye.

With the Sharks beating the Cheetahs by 34-20, and with the Highlanders' win over the Bulls, the race is on between those two, with the second Australian side likely to be in hot pursuit if both teams lose points.

Only five weeks remain, and the margin for error from here is smaller than ever.

So far this season, the Hurricanes have been one of Super Rugby's big surprise packages.

After a disappointing 2011, they lost eight past or current All Blacks as coach Mark Hammett's hard-line style of coaching proved unpopular with senior players.

Hammett's style introduced a much-needed series of changes.

For most of the Super Rugby seasons, the Hurricanes have had no shortage of talented players on their roster but with only one Grand Final appearance in franchise history to show for it, underachievers is a good word to describe the team.

Their previous style of entertaining, explosive rugby suited the star-studded back lines of old and was usually good enough to get them into the semi-finals.

That kind of rugby, while great to watch, lacks the consistency required to succeed long-term. An expansive style of game allows mistakes to creep in and takes the game away from the forwards, which are needed in the tightly-fought playoff games.

As the saying goes: "the best back line in the world means nothing if you're going backwards."

It's no coincidence that the most frequent Super Rugby winners are the Crusaders, Bulls and Brumbies.

The All Blacks finally won a World Cup last year when their forwards started working hard and focusing on a style of game that relies more on structure than a high tempo.

Mark Hammett was brought in from Canterbury by the Hurricanes' management to bring that style of rugby to Wellington.

From day one he emphasised his authority and later told captain Andrew Hore and star second-five Ma'a Nonu they would no longer be required.

Despite the criticism he received, the resulting player exodus actually served to refine the team.

The players left in 2012 were all hard workers with a skill set that works to the game Hammett wants (Nonu made too many mistakes) and rookies with everything to prove.

Contrary to preseason expectations of serving as an extra bye, the Hurricanes have demonstrated signs of longer-term improvement as they sit just outside the top six with a 6-6 record.

Home wins against the Brumbies and Cheetahs would have seen this record at a more impressive 8-4.

Aside from receiving two lessons in not resting players, the 2012 season has been dictated by Hammett's on-going struggle to introduce structure to a team which is still inherently flair-based.

This has always been the Hurricanes' way, and this way of thinking is evident in the way many of them still play. TJ Perenara is a great attacker around the rucks, the back three are among the best counter-attacking trios in the competition and even the loose forwards pride themselves on strong ball-running.

Their ability to quickly score tries has been a real asset this season but this inherent flair got them unstuck around the 50th minute.

Ahead by nine points and firmly in control, they spent 10 minutes trying to push the ball around the field and make line breaks. These attacking runs were often rushed and in that time, the Brumbies were able to get back into the game as two tries put them into the lead.

Had the Hurricanes maintained their composure during that period, they could have worked to take control of the game and close it out in the same way the Stormers have done for much of this season.

This is the biggest problem Mark Hammett will face for the rest of the season and in future seasons.

He needs to harness the team's natural explosive style of rugby that can be so unpredictable and so hard to stop when it works, but he also needs to blend it with a disciplined, controlled style that closes games out and wins high-pressure games.

I can't say I envy his job, but if it works he deserves to be recognized as one of the game's great coaches.