The late night refresh of Instagram is quickly becoming as much of a rugby tradition as after match speeches, and Rieko Ioane once again did not disappoint after the Blues' brutal 20-19 upset of the Chiefs in Hamilton.
The All Blacks centre put in another strong showing as the test season loomed, however took aim at his detractors on social media with a late night Instagram story that read: "To all the 'fans' let's keep family and friends out of my comments- I know the game I play, but that is for me not them. Live and die by the sword, all to create a spectacle of the beautiful game.
"If you really want to see what it's like to be a footy player, go to your local super rugby club and join in."
Rieko Ioane's post match Instagram story. Photo: Instagram
Ioane went on to tell his critics to "be better and pay that sky bill". It comes a week after a social media cold war between the Blues and Moana Pasifika turned hot after the defending champions advanced to the play-offs at the rival expansion team's expense, with Ioane among a number of current All Blacks to get involved in the comments sections.
However, while it was past midnight for Ioane's thoughts to land, it was at about the half hour mark of the game itself when you got the feeling it might be the Blues' night. Scoring at FMG Stadium between them and the Chiefs was being done in threes, the ball wasn't moving much past the midfield and the forwards were all having plenty of carries into each other.
In short, it was the sort of game that played to their strengths and the longer that would continue, the better chance they were going to have of pulling off an unlikely victory.
While it did break open a little in the second half and the Chiefs were able to establish a two score lead, by that point it was going to come down to who could win the penalties and subsequent field position - something the Blues managed expertly in the dying stages to eventually find a way for lock Josh Beehre to score the winning try.
"I think our defence has shown that the team hasn't lost faith in what we're doing," said Blues coach Vern Cotter, in the more traditional setting of a post-match press conference.
"And the boys roll their sleeves up. If you look at the first half, I thought we were quite comfortable on defence in the first 10 minutes…as soon as we came off the line and met them, I think that took away their advantage that they were trying to create."
Meanwhile, the Chiefs will be lamenting potentially giving up a home final, however Clayton McMillan praised the Blues for executing their direct gameplan.
"That's good old fashioned finals grind, you know?" he said.
"And probably in the last 15, 20 minutes, we struggled to exit probably off the back of a misfiring lineout. A few discipline issues, especially in the last little bit."
The Chiefs will return back to FMG Stadium Waikato next Saturday to face the Brumbies, who knocked the Hurricanes out in last night's final play-off game. The Blues now continue their improbable run at back to back championships with a trip to Christchurch, where they will face the Crusaders on a six day turn around - something that Cotter wasn't fazed with.
"I think we just get straight back into it on Monday, then a low intensity Tuesday. We'll have a day off on Wednesday, speed it up a bit and then we're on we're on the plane on Thursday… it's just our job to them to prepare as best we can, and it'll be what it'll be."
