Moana Pasifika may have pulled off the heist of the season: Elliott Smith’s Tight Five

An observation...

Sense has been seen, and Beauden Barrett gets the keys to the Blues at 10 tonight against the Brumbies.

Injuries aside, it’s the best position for him in this Blues side and the relegation of fullback Cole Forbes to bench impact so far this season has been little sense given he was one of the revelations of last year.

One of the other curiosities has been how quiet the Blues midfield has been in the opening three rounds. AJ Lam and Rieko Ioane have been rock solid on defence — an often-overlooked part of the role — but have been staggeringly quiet with ball in hand (one line break each and four defenders beaten per player). To put that into context, you need double figures to reach top 10 in the overall competition standings for defenders beaten this season.

A question...

Have Moana Pasifika pulled off the heist of the season? No, not the obvious one — the one who plays next to Ardie Savea in their pack.

Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa has been a revelation for Moana in the opening rounds of the competition — and is a fairytale story given he wasn’t even in their original squad.

The Southland No 8 could have a big future in the game — I know many from Stagland were highly put out when he failed to make any of the initial six New Zealand squads this season.

He ran a lovely line to score under the sticks from a Savea pass last week that gave Moana a chance to win — that they ultimately failed to take up. Early days, but he looks like a top find from Tana Umaga and co.

An explanation...

On Moana, if they can play for 80 minutes, they’ll be dangerous. If you remove minutes 30-40 from last week’s 31-29 loss to the Highlanders, they win 29-10. Not how it works of course. Moana went AWOL for that period and they should really have two wins in the bank (after throwing away an opening round victory in Perth against the Force too).

A suggestion...

The aspect where they’ve traditionally lost out in parity or better is their tight five but that has been shored up this season and English lock Tom Savage is an unsung hero of that pack. Of course, it hasn’t been enough to lock away a win and they do feel perhaps an extra player short of being able to really match it with the top sides.

A prediction...

Worryingly, Super Rugby Aupiki looks like it is done and dusted already.

Hand the title to the Blues. The signs were there in pre-season, but they scooted past the Hurricanes Poua with ease last week and they have a destructive game plan up front.

It’s hard to see who can touch them – although many would have said that about England prior to the last women’s World Cup.

For the sake of the competition, hopefully Matatu, who look like their nearest rivals based on what has been played to date, can at least push them.