by RivalsDM

Updated: March 22, 2008, 6:24 AM EST Comment

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The Blues took advantage of a late penalty to break the deadlock after the teams were tied at 14-14 for the last nine minutes. Ben Atiga was the man who atoned for some earlier misses with the boot to break Stormers hearts with his last-gasp penalty conversion, and condemn the visitors to the 14-17 loss.

Referee Paul Marks and touch judge Brett Bowden, both from Australia, made a controversial call in the final minutes that allowed the Blues to escape punishment.

Blues lock Kurtis Haiu swung at least three punches in the direction of Francois Louw and Brok Harris in open view. But the officials deliberated, and decided that a penalty to the Stormers was the only punishment, and failed to show the a card to the offending player.

The Stormers were very unlucky not to get anything from the encounter, and provided better value that the Blues, who struggled to ignite the fluent running game that was so prominent over the first three weeks of the tournament.

Flavell admitted that his players struggled to create rhythm, but was happy with the Blues performance in the set phases.

"We did alright last week [in the scrum] and it's definitely a big plus," said Flavell.

"The scrum went well again [against the Stormers], like it has been the whole year. Like we said, we need to just knuckle down and keep our composure."

"We still turned over a lot of ball, and it's cost us. If we stand a chance [to make] the semifinals, we'll have to sharpen up."

Flavell also praised stand-in flyhalf Isaia Toeava, who had to take over the number 10 jersey at the last minute after Nick Evans was ruled out, following a blow to his jaw last week against the Force.

"I thought he did well tonight. It's not easy for a third choice coming in at number 10 and slide into that pivotal role.

"To his credit he did well this week, and credit to the whole team, although we couldn't quite get it together tonight."

The Blues have another home game next week, this time against the struggling Bulls, who sank to another demoralising loss on Saturday against the Chiefs in Rotorua.

Despite the Bulls lack of form, Flavell was looking ahead to a physical onslaught.

"They are big physical brutes, and it will be another big challenge for us," said the Blues skipper.