Another All Black set to miss start of Blues Super Rugby campaign

Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu will have some company on the sidelines for at least the opening week of Super Rugby Pacific, with Akira Ioane set to miss time with a calf injury.

While Tuipulotu is nursing a broken jaw, which occurred during the first half of the team’s opening pre-season contest in Japan, former All Black utility forward Ioane suffered his injury in January during training.

Ioane was absent from both team sheets while the Blues were in Japan for their Cross-Border rugby fixtures, and his name was again missing when the team named their squad for the final pre-season hit out against the Chiefs, a game being played in Takapuna on Friday afternoon.

“It’s a shame Aki has picked up a calf injury so he will be late into the competition,” Blues head coach Vern Cotter told the Herald on Thursday. “He’s knocking people around at training so he’s just about ready to come back in. He won’t be ready for round one, maybe round two but more likely round three.”

While Ioane faces a delayed start to the season’s festivities, his Blues teammates who featured in the Rugby World Cup last year are making a return to action after an extended break.

Rieko Ioane, Finlay Christie, Mark Tele’a and Dalton Papali’i will all see their first minutes of action since the Rugby World Cup final, while Caleb Clarke was eager to return early and so got some quality minutes under his belt in Japan.

They will face fellow World Cup final participants in Damian McKenzie, Samisoni Taukei’aho and Anton Lienert-Brown, with Luke Jacobson and Tupou Vaa’i also named for the Chiefs.

The season kicks off next weekend, the 23rd of February, when the Crusaders visit Hamilton for a final rematch. Ioane will miss the Blues’ opening contest against the Fijian Drua, potentially also Super Round in Melbourne where his team play the Highlanders and as Cotter said, he could return for round three against the Hurricanes.