Nucifora rules out complacency against Cheetahs

After just two rounds, eight points already separate the Blues and the Cheetahs who will meet this weekend in the Super 14.

But coach David Nucifora has promised that the Blues will not suffer from complacency when they face the Cheetahs despite the hammering they have given both of their two opening round opponents.

Nucifora maintain that touring the “republic” remains a tough assignment.

“It’s still a difficult place to win over here, there’s no doubt about that,” he told the NZ Herald.

“If we slacken off, get complacent and don’t build on what we did last week, it’s still going to be easy to get tipped over.”

Nucifora described the Cheetahs as a well-organised unit who play with a lot of structure and noted that they are the current Currie Cup champions

Nucifora has named an almost unchanged team to the one that beat the Lions last week and he says that with no problems with injury or fatigue he didn’t feel the need to make changes.

He did however say that he wanted the Blues to play with more patience and to have better decision-making with the ball and a more ruthless approach in attack.

“We’ve really had to focus on keeping pressure on our opponents and not being over-eager and trying to throw 50-50 passes that just aren’t on,” Nucifora said.

“If you can maintain possession and keep them under pressure, you’ll eventually find a weak defender.

“So we just have to be patient and patience is a big thing with the laws at the moment.”

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske was hoping the Blues’ big victory over the Lions would make them complacent and that the Blues would ease off mentally. “The fact that they won by such a large points margin could count in our favour,” said Drotske.