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Sport | Auckland Blues

Blues future begins now

The Blues have two games left in the 2018 Super Rugby season, but they have already begun rebuilding for the years ahead.

Having missed yet another finals series, they're looking to finish the year off on a high.

Lock Matiaha Martin says they would like to finish the season on a winning note so they could look forward to next year with confidence.

On Friday night the Blues returned from the international break with a win against the Queensland Reds at home- incredibly it was their first home win of the season.

It was another new experience for Martin, who says for the first time since his debut against the Crusaders in May he was able to sing the team song.

He also says there was a great feeling amongst the squad.

That game also marked the end of Jerome Kaino's 14 year career at Eden park, and the Blues sent him off with a haka afterwards.

Matiaha described Kaino as chief of the squad and he is held in high regard, and as someone who is at the other end of his career, he hopes to one day emulate Kaino.

The haka, which was composed by Whiria Meltzer and Ruka Makiha for the clash with the British and Irish Lions in 2017, is now used by the club to pay tribute to their own, and to celebrate themselves.

Matiaha says it is a great haka, not only for the club itself, but the wider Blues community.

The Blues face a tough run home this year. They play the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday and the Crusaders in Christchurch next weekend.

Although they can't make the finals this year, they can disrupt the final placings of other sides with an upset or two, as well as setting themselves a nice platform to begin their new season.