Jermoe Kaino surges forward for the Blues
© Getty Images
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Auckland is a sporting centre in decline, according to Chris Rattue in The New Zealand Herald.
"The first week of the new rugby season already looks like all of those often depressingly hopeless years gone by for the Blues. Their faltering effort against the Hurricanes at Albany on Friday night reinforced the strong suspicion they will be also-rans again this year.
"Auckland is a city of sporting decay. The smell of failure hangs around Auckland sport, in contrast to elsewhere. The Blues' second-half capitulation against the Hurricanes, who were beautifully marshalled by Piri Weepu, was yet another soul-destroying moment in their increasingly beleaguered history.
"Forget the PR BS because flaky met shaky when the Blues secured Cantabrian Stephen Brett.Why the biggest city in a supposedly rugby-mad nation needs to go cap in hand to find players in pivotal positions tells a story in itself, that of an inability to identify and/or lure young players and fit them into long-term schemes."
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