Sir John Kirwan

Blues coach John Kirwan knows his team must beat the Chiefs if they are to have any hope of contending for a play-off spot this season.

The Auckland side have made a horror start to the season, losing all 6 of their matches, and Kirwan knows that they must beat the Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday to keep their feint play-off hope alive.

“We knew going in we had to win 1 of these 2 games away to stay in the hunt. We were hoping that was going to come tonight, so that doubles the pressure on next week,” the Blues coach said after the loss to the defending champion Waratahs on Saturday.

Despite sitting rock bottom of the standings with just 4 Log points, Kirwan still believes they can bounce back if they manage to get the better of the Chiefs.

“The pressure is mounting, you can’t deny that. But that’s where we’re at, and we just need to keep focusing on what we can control and that’s getting ready for the Chiefs,” he said.

The Blues coach said that he has no option but to play all of his available All Blacks this weekend.

“We need to win 1 of these games away if we’re going to stay in the race. I can’t afford to rest them and if the season is lost to us I don’t have to worry too much after that,” he said.

He added that his side wil need a bit of luck to turn things around as the pressure continues to mount.

“We couldn’t win a trick at the moment,” Kirwan said. “We’re under pressure and the boys are playing with heart and commitment, but we’ve just got to cut out some of our discipline errors and make sure we execute a little better.”

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