The Blues 'big mover' putting pressure on Beauden Barrett

For Black, a late starter due to injury, the situation is a little different. The 24-year-old started his first game of the season against the Bulls in Pretoria and marked it by kicking a penalty after the final siren to seal a 23-21 victory.

A week later he kicked all seven shots at goal for a famous 33-14 victory over the Stormers in Cape Town.

He knows, however, that rival Barrett will start training with the Blues on Monday after a post-World Cup sabbatical and that the No 10 jersey may not be readily available for too much longer. All Black Barrett's first game is scheduled to be against his former team the Hurricanes at Eden Park on April 11.

But Black's form, and that of midfielders Joe Marchant, TJ Faiane, wing Mark Telea and loose forwards Sotutu, Tony Lamborn, Dalton Papalii, Blake Gibson and Tom Robinson means there is genuine competition for places at the Blues for probably the first time in a decade.

Assistant coach Tom Coventry will hope Black makes picking the wearer of the No 10 jersey as challenging as possible for selectors once Barrett is back.

"Otere has been a big mover for us," Coventry said. "He's kicking well – he nailed that penalty to win us the game in the last couple of minutes against the Bulls. He's directing us around the field marvellously and his composure at the moment is really high.

Black, who is also a former Hurricane, is looking forward to a Wellington return with the assistance of another playmaker – fullback Stephen Perofeta, who began the season as the Blues' No 10.

"A lot of teams are using that [dual playmaker] tactic these days and it's a big part of how we want to play. It definitely helps. He's been playing some awesome footy over the last couple of weeks and we want to build that combination.

"It's always tough coming up against Kiwi teams – it's always an exciting brand of rugby. I'm sure people love watching it. It will be an awesome challenge this weekend. The Canes are in pretty good form and we're looking forward to bringing some form back from Africa."

This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.

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