Apart from Jerome Kaino turning up early for work, having forsaken the full extent of his post-World Cup holiday, the vibe out of the Blues camp has been underwhelming so far.
Indeed, with the Super 15 season less than a fortnight away, the general rugby atmosphere is lacking. The long-standing, unwritten rule is that the media leaves the rugby mob alone over the long Christmas break, and we’ve discovered that even a World Cup triumph won’t change that.
Apart from a deluge of player weddings and magazine cover shoots, Sonny Bill Williams has been left to carry the publicity for rugby alone, something he has done manfully by offering his considerable physique up to the brutal sport of boxing.
Sonny Bill, the PR king and headline hogger, comes at a reasonably high price but he never gets close to charging by the hour. He needed just one round to dismantle Clarence Tillman III, about the same amount of time he was required for in the World Cup final.
Yet this was even more time than he spent parading the trophy around.
Never let it be said that this country has over-celebrated the Great Triumph – a quick tickertape parade and a couple of gongs and life goes back to normal, which in the case of the Blues is not a good thing.
They scored a come-from-behind win over the Melbourne Rebels in a trial match across the Ditch on Saturday. Pre-season games mean diddly-squat in assessing the season proper, so it would be pointless to point out that the Chiefs smashed up the Melbourne mob last week.
What can be pointed out, though, is that if the public utterances are to be believed, the Blues’ coach, Pat Lam, is still working out who is his best first five-eighths.
The smart money says that the World Cup halfback Piri Weepu will start at No 10 in the Super 15 and won’t stay there, because such consistency just isn’t the Blues way.
As most of us understood the situation, Weepu, who helped keep rugby in the headlines of late (although unlike Sonny Bill’s camp, he doesn’t milk situations), was hired to play at first five-eighths.
Weepu has become immensely popular because he has a manner at odds with the superior demeanour that rugby projects. Peak condition can elude Weepu, but every sport needs a few characters not cut from the same rippling mould.
Vague reports also claimed the Blues had interest in the Argentine No 10 Juan Martin Hernandez. Rookies Gareth Anscombe and Michael Hobbs were tried at No 10 in the opening trial game against the Hurricanes.
“It’s a chance for Piri to have a shot,” is how Lam put it before the Melbourne game, which is all a bit too spin-the-wheel considering the first match against the Crusaders is close.
Ideally, Lam would
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