The Blues came out of the opening Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final as 41-12 victors over the Waratahs at Eden Park on Friday.
Following the dominant win from the Aucklanders, Planet Rugby selects five takeaways from the play-off clash.
It was a dream start for the New South Wales men who would only wait three minutes for their first points through a Ned Hanigan try. Things continued to look good with the Waratahs pushing for more points early in the first period.
Whilst all the momentum was with the Australians who by the 20th minute had spent most of the game in the Blues' half, they failed to capitalise. The disallowed Dylan Pietsch try perhaps typified their first half; over the line but not controlled.
There were also a couple of chances to grab three points and build scoreboard pressure but kicks for the corner failed to produce the results.
The Waratahs would be made to pay for their inaccuracies as they went into the sheds at half-time 10 points behind despite having in the region of 60% territory.
It was a bit of a frenetic start from the Blues who may have been surprised by the 'Tahs quick start. The pressure resulted in them overplaying a bit in the opening quarter or so, allowing that early dominance from their visitors.
However, there was never a great deal of panic as they dialled in their basics to in essence 'steal' a comfortable 10-point lead at the break. This was a testament to the leadership within the Blues side who encouraged patience.
That paid off as the Aucklanders had the platform in the second period to turn the screw and they did so with aplomb, forcing the Waratahs into a state of desperation by the end of the game.
Of course, the Waratahs started well and did apply some pressure on last year's finalists but it was hard to feel as though they would win this game. The inaccuracies in the first period were pretty costly but in truth, the issues ran much deeper than that as they were no match for the Blues.
The Blues beat more than three times the defenders the Waratahs did, with the Australians missing a whopping 36 tackles on the night. The breakdown was also lopsided with the hosts claiming nine turnovers to the five of the 'Tahs.
The penalty count was the most one-sided of all with the visitors conceding 12 penalties to the five of the Blues. Several of those were at scrum-time where the Blues dominated whilst the line-out, which should have been a strength of the Sydney men, only operated at 72.7% to the Blues' 88.2%.
The bottom line is there was a massive difference in class as the poor execution of fundamentals cost the visitors dearly.
What started as a concerning start for the Blues ended in a statement win, underlining the impressive character of the Aucklanders.
In rugby union, it is almost inevitable that both sides will have some sort of period in the game where they have momentum and the ball seems to be bouncing a certain way and this is when the good teams are separated from the great.
The Blues stayed calm and absorbed the pressure but when they had a half chance to snatch the momentum they did. Once that happened the forwards started finding the edge over the Waratahs everywhere. It started with the contact point and breakdown, next came the set-piece.
Once those boxes were ticked the backline stood up brilliantly. Finlay Christie was outstanding, as was Beauden Barrett and Zarn Sullivan. Inside centre Bryce Heem was just about everywhere doing the hard yards as Rieko Ioane, AJ Lam and Mark Telea danced their way through the defence.
The synergy was beautiful to watch and it could well have been the Blues' best performance which bodes well for their play-off journey.
Could the Blues be peaking at the right time?
There has been no clear indication why, but the team that ran out for the Waratahs was very different from what was named earlier in the week.
The changes included Ben Donaldson moving from 10 to 15 with Tane Edmed starting at fly-half. Mark Nawaqanitwase shifted from 15 to 14 with Izaia Perese, who was named on the right wing, starting at 13. Joey Walton went from 13 to 12 and Lalakai Foketi dropped to the bench.
Nephi Leatigaga started at loosehead instead of Archer Holz who was originally named. Holz dropped out of the matchday 23 whilst Tolu Latu, Mache Vailanu, Charlie Gamble and Teddy Wilson were all shifted around on the bench.
It is a truly bizarre circumstance as there is no way all those changes are injury-enforced which has led to suggestions the Waratahs were trying to play mind games to offset the Blues. One would hope that is not the case as it would not exactly align the best with the spirit of the game.
Nevertheless, whether enforced or not, the lack of rhythm and ability to take chances for the most part cost the side a play-off match.
READ MORE: WATCH: Finlay Christie rounds off STUNNING try in Blues' quarter-final against Waratahs