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Desperate Blues rejig lineup again
By Online Editors
The injury-stricken Blues have again made changes in search of the winning formula following the loss of fullback Michael Collins during to a broken hand and lock Josh Goodhue against the Sunwolves.
Head coach Tana Umaga has named young first five-eighth Stephen Perofeta at fullback as a replacement, with Bryn Gatland recalled to the starting side in the 10 jersey. The Rieko Ioane midfield experiment appears over with the All Black returning to the left wing position. TJ Faiane and former New Zealand under-20's rep Orbyn Leger will start in the midfield.
Jimmy Tupou will partner Patrick Tuipulotu in the second row, while another New Zealand age grade rep will get his first start at blindside in Dalton Papali'i.
The Blues return home for six-game stretch at Eden Park starting with the Highlanders on Friday night which will bring some stability to the side.
"We have been mostly on the road with a tough two-game trip to South Africa and now a trip to Japan with a short turn-around," Umaga said.
"But we are home for the next few games and we want to make this our fortress, starting on Friday."
With Melani Nanai and Jordan Trainor also injured, Umaga was left with limited options to fill the fullback role.
"All clubs have injuries and we are no different. But it gives opportunities for other players to stand up and bring some real enthusiasm.
"We have improved over the last two weeks and we now have to step up to another level in every facet. Our record against other New Zealand team is well documented so we want to make to make our homecoming a special one."
The young Blues side will be looking to break an intra-conference draught of 14 winless games, having won just one of the last 25 games against Kiwi opposition.
BLUES: Stephen Perofeta, Jordan Hyland, Orbyn Leger, TJ Faiane, Rieko Ioane, Bryn Gatland, Jonathan Ruru; Akira Ioane, Kara Pryor, Dalton Papali'i, Jimmy Tupou, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ofa Tu'ungafasi/Mike Tamoaieta, James Parsons (capt), Pauliasi Manu. Reserves: Matt Moulds/Leni Apisai, Ross Wright, Tamoaieta/Sione Mafileo, Ben Neenee, Murphy Taramai, Sam Nock, Tumua Manu, Matt Duffie.
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Latest Comments
GB is England, Scotland, Wales. They are the 3 constituent countries in Great Britain. Ergo playing only those three countries is a tour of GB. The difference between GB and the UK is Northern Ireland. It's not a huge deal to be accurate and call places by their correct name. But please refrain from your idiotic attempts to BS that GB=UK. It doesn't.
Go to commentsThe 2023 draw was only criticized when it became apparent that the top 5 sides in the world were on the same side of the draw. Nowhere did they discuss the decision to backtrack to 2019 rankings which ensured that England and Wales (ranked #12 in 2023) were ranked top4.
The parties who trashed out the schedule were England Rugby, NZ Rugby and ITV. It is bordering on corrupt that a Rugby nation has the power to schedule its opponents to play a major match the week before facing them in a QF.
You won't find commentary by members of the relevant committees because a committee did not make the scheduling decision. I have never heard members of World Rugby speak out on the draw or scheduling issues.
For example in 2015 Japan were hammered by Scotland 4 days after beating SA. The criticism only happens after a cock up.
A fair pool schedule is pretty straightforward: The lowest two tanked teams must play on last pool day but not against each other. That means that TV can focus on promoting big matches with a Tier2 involved for that Friday.
Why does NZ Always get its preferred slot playing the hardest pool match on day 1?
Why do other teams eg France, Ireland, Scotland get so often scheduled to play a hard match the week before the QFs?
If you believe the rules around scheduling are transparent then please point me in the right direction?
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