The Blues coach Pat Lam has broken down in tears saying he and his family have been the target of racial abuse over the side's poor form in the Super rugby competition.
The Blues have won just one of their six games so far and languish at the bottom of the compeition.
This afternoon Lam struggled to contain his emotions as he tried to explain the reasons behind the Blues poor form saying his family have been subjected to racist taunts on social media sites and talkback radio.
He says the comments that the Blues are losing because they're coached by someone with a Pacific Island background are offensive and come from faceless people hiding behind anonymity.
Meanwhile Lam has dropped All Black lock Ali Williams for Friday night's game against the South African side the Sharks, opting for a much younger look to his run on side.
The 31 year old Williams has been replaced by 22 year old Liaki Moli who earns his first start of the season.
The Braid brothers, Daniel and Luke are also back, with the loose forward duo returning to the starting lineup for the first time in a month.
Luke's back after a three week suspension while Daniel was forced to withdraw from last week's starting lineup against Melbourne, through illness.
Winger Hadleigh Parkes also comes into the starting fifteen.
The All Black halfback Piri Weepu is again in the reserves.
