Third place is up for grabs between the Blues and Crusaders. <\/p>\n
With it comes home playoff advantage and the possibility of a second life, should the top two ranked teams (Hurricanes and Chiefs) win their respective finals matches, which are highly likely to be against Australian opposition.<\/p>\n
Damian McKenzie remains absent through concussion this week and with the Chiefs resting All Blacks Tupou Vaa\u2019i, Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho, Luke Jacobson and Quinn Tupaea, the Blues must walk through the door that\u2019s left ajar.<\/p>\n
Anton Segner on the charge for the Blues. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Beauden Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu and Dalton Papali\u2019i are unavailable through injury this week. But the next generation of emerging talent, the likes of loose forwards Torian Barnes and Malachi Wrampling, offer hope for the Blues. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a finals mindset heading into this game,\u201d in-form Blues loose forward and stand-in captain Anton Segner said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what you build towards throughout the whole season \u2013 the do or die situation. We\u2019ll get excited to release the shackles on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the tough times we\u2019ve had this season we\u2019ve become a close-knit group. We love our fans and playing in front of them so this weekend we\u2019ll give it everything we\u2019ve got to make sure we earn that home advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Successive losses to the Crusaders and Hurricanes<\/a> before last week\u2019s bye cast a dark cloud over the Blues\u2019 credentials. <\/p>\n The 47-24 defeat at Eden Park<\/a> is the most points the Blues have conceded against the Hurricanes, but concerns stretch beyond that stark scoreline.<\/p>\n While the Blues had their moments, their set piece strength has faltered in recent weeks<\/a>. And with opposition now well prepared for Vern Cotter\u2019s direct, confrontational blueprint, the Blues have not imposed their desired physical dominance at the breakdown, or with their ball carrying, to expose a lack of creativity with their attack.<\/p>\n From an attitude, influence and accuracy perspective, German-born Segner has been a consistent ray of light.<\/p>\n This week, he collected three internal player of the year awards to reflect a standout campaign that has thrust his name into the All Blacks conversation.<\/p>\n While Papali\u2019i, Hoskins Sotutu, Devan Flanders and Samipeni Finau prepare to depart, New Zealand\u2019s loose forward stocks remain stacked as Segner and Highlanders flanker Lucas Casey add their names to the overflowing list of contenders.<\/p>\n Segner is thriving in his fifth season with the Blues as the 24-year-old marks himself as a future long-term captain of the franchise.<\/p>\n Extended game time has allowed Segner to showcase his jackling turnover presence and relentless work-rate. <\/p>\n His ball carrying \u2013 after adding four kilograms to his frame in the off-season to sit about 111kg \u2013 has seen a big shift in his game too.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big one is maturing not just physically but mentally. I\u2019ve been in this environment for a while now. <\/p>\n \u201cPhysically my body has filled out again. I felt that massively after the NPC season last year. During that time I had six, seven weeks off where I was able to refresh back home in Germany. <\/p>\n \u201cComing back here I felt in good shape and I was able to carry that momentum through to this year.<\/p>\n \u201cFour kilos might not seem like much to people but I definitely feel it in contact. The important thing is I\u2019m still able to play 80 minutes of rugby at full pace. <\/p>\n \u201cMy body is getting used to that weight, which is part of physically maturing. I feel really comfortable.<\/p>\n Despite their obvious struggles, Segner projects confidence the Blues can reignite their seemingly freefalling campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to improve on finding enjoyment in what we do again. We\u2019ve got a good culture going on. We\u2019ve had a couple of tough weeks with tough results but it\u2019s the tough times that bring you closer. <\/p>\n \u201cWe got a bit stuck in our system and going late in the season we haven\u2019t put ourselves in a position to rotate. The bye week came at a good time. It gave us a chance to refresh physically and mentally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had fun again at training … The way we\u2019re looking to play on Saturday will reflect that. We want to dominate the collisions and have a strong set piece and executing the other parts of our game plan. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been disappointing for us the last couple of weeks that we haven\u2019t been able to dominate those areas. We know the Chiefs will come hard there and we\u2019re looking forward to the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n Personal accolades reflect Segner\u2019s rising status but in the context of their season, he would swap that recognition for a revival in the Blues form. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always a bit of a strange feeling having those awards nights during the season because you still have everything to play for. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very thankful for all the awards, especially the players\u2019 players one. Getting acknowledged by your teammates is very special.\u201d<\/p>\n Blues: <\/p>\n 1. Mason Tupaea 2. James Mullan 3. Marcel Renata 4. Josh Beehre 5. Sam Darry 6. Torian Barnes 7. Anton Segner (c) 8. Malachi Wrampling 9. Sam Nock 10. Stephen Perofeta 11. Caleb Clarke 12. Pita Ahki 13. Xavi Taele 14. AJ Lam 15. Zarn Sullivan <\/p>\n Reserves: 16. Eli Oudenryn (debut), 17. Joshua Fusitu\u2019a, 18. Flyn Yates, 19. Laghlan McWhannell, 20. Hoskins Sotutu, 21. Finlay Christie, 22. Corey Evans, 23. Codemeru Vai<\/p>\n Chiefs:<\/p>\n 1. Jared Proffit 2. Tyrone Thompson 3. George Dyer 4. Seuseu Naitoa Ah Kuoi 5. Josh Lord 6. Samipeni Finau 7. Jahrome Brown 8. Wallace Sititi (c) 9. Cortez Ratima 10. Josh Jacomb 11. Kyren Taumoefolau 12. Reon Paul 13. Daniel Rona 14. Daniel Sinkinson 15. Liam Coombes-Fabling <\/p>\n Reserves 16. Brodie McAlister 17. Ben\u00e9t Kumeroa 18. Keran van Staden 19. Fiti Sa 20. Kaylum Boshier (vc) 21. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi 22. Tepaea Cook-Savage 23. Lalakai Foketi<\/p>\n Liam Napier<\/a> is a senior sports journalist and rugby correspondent for the NZ Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Third place is up for grabs between the Blues and Crusaders. With it comes home playoff advantage and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[236793,64,63,21575,3925,16495,82701,16308,580,340344,36687,23445,2652,760,340343,85,1643,320,19004,37803,8045,14850],"class_list":["post-698469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-anton","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-before","tag-blues","tag-come","tag-early","tag-finals","tag-for","tag-fronting","tag-its","tag-late","tag-on","tag-rugby","tag-segner","tag-sports","tag-super","tag-the","tag-this","tag-too","tag-up","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Anton Segner with Blues coach Vern Cotter at pre-season training. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Anton Segner (right) with Hoskins Sotutu at Blues training. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n