Cape Town - Blues wing Matt Duffie believes the side need to continue to look to improve by backing up their better performances.
Duffie, who scored a brace of tries in the Blues' 38-14 win
over the Bulls in Albany at the weekend, said the players knew the type of game
they played in the second half of that clash was in them, but it had been good
to see it break out on the field in the way it had.
But the key was to put that game down as a benchmark and to
work hard using the confidence boost from it to work harder on improving in
their next game, and so on through the season.
Duffie, who is a former Melbourne Storm and Kiwis Rugby
League player, said he was feeling more comfortable in the game. At the same
stage last year he had been battling away and his opportunities came toward the
end of the season.
"It's just nice to start the season but I must admit I
never feel like I've got this jersey completely sewn up so every game I am
stressing about trying to put a good performance in because I just want to hold
onto this right wing slot for dear life," he told the All Blacks' official
website.
His combination at the back with full-back Michael Collins
was starting to have an effect because they communicated well and talked about
taking right or wrong options and what they were seeing in front of them, and
that was the basis of a good relationship.
"He's got a pretty good off-load game so I need to get round him a bit more I reckon," added Duffie.
At half-time against the Bulls, the Blues had been aware the
opportunities were available and that they had been creating opportunities but
were guilty of dropping passes or throwing off-loads instead of setting up one
more ruck.
The inability to capitalise had been frustrating because
they knew they were better than that, and also better than what they had shown
in the last three games.
"The second half was like a snippet of how we can play
but it's about being ruthless enough to do that for 80 minutes and ruthless
enough not to throw that off-load," explained Duffie.
"The second half showed that and hopefully we can keep that [example] in the back of our minds [in the future]."