It is time to face some cold, hard facts. That Blues revival, that great turnaround we keep hearing about from within a camp that talks a lot better game than they play, ain't happening this year. Again.

That much seems clear after yet another disappointing, disjointed and downright deflating performance as Tana Umaga's men crashed to their fourth defeat in five matches this season, clouted 63-40 by a dialled-in Sharks side that made their Kiwi hosts look, at times, like second-rate fools. The Blues season officially reached crisis point.