He admits it was "frustrating" but new Blues coach Leon MacDonald says there were still some good moments for his side in their narrow 22-24 loss to the Crusaders last night.
MacDonald lamented his side showed a "little bit of panic" at Eden Park in some big moments in the match.
"It was frustrating, obviously, not to get the result we were looking for," MacDonald said.
"But it was a good game - the ebb and flow of momentum from both teams, they both had periods of good attack and put pressure on.
"If you're a purist and you enjoy a real good arm wrestle, it was definitely that."
MacDonald added both teams had opportunities to seize control of the game.
"There were a couple of little calls that didn't quite go our way which might have helped us and a couple of little plays that we didn't quite execute so it'll be frustrating when we look at that on the video."
However, MacDonald is remaining positive after the result, hoping it'll be the foundation for a strong season.
"There were parts of the game where we were really good and applied a lot of pressure to a very good team.
"If we can do that for longer periods of time, we'll be hard to stop."
The Blues head to South Africa this week to play the Sharks on Sunday morning, NZT.
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