Rebel Sport Super 14: Blues v Waratahs

The Blues, formerly the Auckland Blues, are a professional New Zealand rugby union team based in Auckland, New Zealand, and representing the Northland, North Harbour and Auckland unions. They compete in the Super 14 (formerly Super 12) competition, which they have won three times; 1996, 1997, and 2003. The Blues' main home ground is Eden Park in Auckland.

Initial composition of the Blues
When NZRU were initially deciding the team compositions for the Super 12 in 1995 it was decided that to have the Blues franchise encompass the North Harbour, Counties-Manukau, Northland and Auckland provincial rugby unions would be unfair. This was due to the preponderance of All Blacks (players representing New Zealand) who came from North Harbour, Counties-Manukau and Auckland at the time. Hence if the Blues were to consist of these unions, they would field an All Blacks team in all but name.

This led to North Harbour and Northland being represented by the nearest other team, the Chiefs (at the time named the Waikato Chiefs). As a result, the Blues did not represent all of Auckland, as North Harbour represents the northern part of the Auckland region; however the Blues represented Thames Valley as part of their franchise, a region considerably closer to Hamilton than Auckland.

Borders redrawn
By the end of the 1990s the number of All Blacks from these unions had decreased. This led the Blues and the Chiefs to arrange a swap, where the Chiefs would represent Thames Valley and Counties Manukau in exchange for the Blues representing Northland and North Harbour. Although in the seasons leading up to the trade North Harbour and Northland had outperformed Counties Manukau and Thames Valley in provincial rugby (see National Provincial Championship), it enabled both franchises to represent unions closer geographically. Despite this, the Blues lost the area colloquially referred to as South Auckland (Counties Manukau) which is also part of the Auckland metropolitan area. Thus, the Blues traded South Auckland for North Auckland and Blues still do not represent the entire Auckland region. In 2000, all of New Zealand's Super 12 franchises dropped the regional identifiers from their official names.

Playing history
The Blues won the inaugural Super 12 competition in 1996, winning the final at Eden Park 46-22 against Natal. They followed this up by winning the competition again in 1997, this time without losing a game (although they drew one). Eden Park hosted it's third straight Super 12 final in 1998, this time the Blues played host to the Crusaders (named Canterbury Crusaders at the time). The 1998 final ended in a Crusaders victory 20-13, preventing the Blues gaining a hat-trick of titles.

The Blues have only achieved title success once since 1997, defeating the Crusaders in the 2003 final 21-17. Although the team has consistently fielded All Blacks, it has struggled to perform well, having failed to make the semi-finals since 2003. With the expanded competition in 2006 (renamed the Super 14) the Blues were predicted to make the semi-finals, and to be a strong title contenders, however they proved disappointing, finishing eighth.

2006 draft fiasco
The Blues were forced by the New Zealand Rugby Union board to include North Harbour captain Rua Tipoki in their squad of 24 players who are 'protected' from the draft. Tipoki was originally to be excluded from the draft due to personal circumstances in order to stay in Auckland, Andrew Mehrtens has in the past done this with the Crusaders. The NZRU however forced coach David Nucifora to pick Tipoki in his 24 man squad and hence drop another player.

It is believed the NZRU board was in favour of dropping players such as Isa Nacewa or Viliame Waqaseduadua who are ineligible to play for the All Blacks. Instead, Nucifora excluded All Black Isaia Toeava. Toeava, subsequently, played for the Hurricanes in 2006.