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Blues make captaincy change ahead of 2020 Super Rugby campaign

Patrick Tuipulotu. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

The Blues will head into the new Super Rugby season with just one captain at the helm of the squad after All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu was named as skipper on Wednesday.

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The 26-year-old was named outright captain of the 2020 squad after having previously shared the duty with loose forward Blake Gibson.

“It’s my home town, home province,” Tuipulotu said to media following the announcement of his appointment.

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“I’m pretty honoured and privileged to again lead this team, it’s obviously different circumstances the time round, with myself solely.

“But in saying that, I’ve got a good group of guys behind me, who are going to help me out throughout the year.”

One challenge that Tuipulotu faces as a leader in a younger, less experienced Blues squad compared to last year is that he won’t be able to call on the support of departed veterans such as Ma’a Nonu, Sonny Bill Williams or ex-captain Augustine Pulu.

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Regardless, the 30-test international said taking the leadership reins was an offer he couldn’t refuse from Blues head coach Leon MacDonald.

“I was never going to say no if the coaches asked me,” he added.

“Leon approached me and told me what was the go and I thought I was happy with that, it’s a new challenge, it’s different but I’ll take it heads on.

“This is where I want to be and that’s another driving factor in why I took it.”

Tuipulotu will likely get his first match as the club’s sole captain next Friday when the Blues host the Chiefs at Eden Park in the first match of the new Super Rugby season.

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J
JW 12 minutes ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Nice, that’s good to hear, I was worried for the tackler and it increasing concussions overall.


My question is still the same, and the important one though. Where the rate of concussions in Fed 2 high? Of course if there where only three concussions, and they were reduced now to one, then there is no need for the new laws etc.


There are two angles to this discussion, mine above about player welfare, and of course the that which you raise, legal responsibility. More, the legal responsibility we are concerned with is what’s happening now.


WR don’t really know much about CTE I wouldn’t think, whether it happens from innocuous things like heading a ball, or from small knocks or big knocks that don’t heal. Right now they are ensuring the backside is clean by implementing laws to rule out any possibility they didn’t do enough. So once they understand the problem more they may realise some things are overboard.


The other legal responsibility is the one you are talking about in France, the past. Did the LNR and WR know about the severity and frequency of CTE in rugby? That is the question in that debate. If they didn’t know then theres nothing they could have done, so there is no worry. Further, what we may have now is a situation where 90% of those court actions might not happen in future thanks to the new framework we already have around HIA and head contact processes. Your English example is only going to be an issue if future players still continue to receive CTE (as that is obviously bad), as it is now, the players have taken on their own responsibility by ignore advice. No doubt some countries, like France and New Zealand, will lower their tackle height, but as long as the union has done an adequate job in advising of the severity of the problem at least the legal shadow over the community game will have gone.

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