Making their first appearance in 21 years as Super Rugby’s defending champions, the Blues knew they would be in for a physical battle when they hosted the Chiefs at Eden Park.

But in a rematch of last year’s grand final, it was the Chiefs who were able to turn the tables and get the better of that physical tussle; an area Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu said was “very frustrating” following his side’s 25-14 defeat.

“During the week, we talked about the physicality of the game but I think in the end probably just paid lip service to it and it wasn’t really that genuine,” Tuipulotu said.

“The Chiefs, they played the physical game tonight and we didn’t really fire back. We probably talked about doing something but expected it to happen.”

While the Blues made a solid start to the contest and led 14-6 at halftime, the Chiefs were able to keep them scoreless in the second half as they dominated proceedings following the restart.

The Blues struggled with their discipline, being on the wrong side of a 16-6 penalty count, while the Chiefs’ scrum was a strength for the visitors.

“I don’t know that we were fully in control from the start,” Blues coach Vern Cotter reflected. “If you look at the game eight months ago and you look at this game, were the Chiefs much better or were they that much worse? Those are the thoughts of things we’ll look at.

“Every team needs to go through these types of emotions and feelings after games. It’s never going to be all one way and I think for this team to learn and get mature again – this is something they haven’t experienced and the last time was 21 years ago, so coming back in as favourites, perhaps we need to ask some questions and just create awareness around where we’re at at the moment.

“That’s really key to moving forward. There are parts of the game I think we can make better decisions in, but were we in comfortable positions to make better decisions? I expected it to be a little bit to-and-fro, but if you look at the Chiefs play, they locked in, brought a physical edge and it was hard for us to lock in.”

Although the Chiefs were able to get the upper hand in the physical battle, the Blues were able to keep the visitors from scoring a try until the 54th minute and they held their lead until the 67th minute when impressive Chiefs winger Leroy Carter crossed.

The Blues could have extended their lead through Mark Tele’a earlier in the second half, had it not been for some desperate defence by Chiefs halfback Cortez Ratima. Ratima did just enough to stop Tele’a from grounding the ball on his first attempt and the Blues winger slid out before being able to get the ball down.

Cotter said while that moment could have swayed things one way or the other, his side simply failed to adapt to the way the game was going.

“We got ourselves comfortable around dominating scoring, and I think sometimes you just need to learn to adapt.

“Sometimes it’s going to be tough and you’re going to have to find a way and it may be a different way than you started off with.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.