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Blues' loose forwards could be the advantage they need to take Super Rugby by storm

(Photos by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Patrick McKendry/NZ Herald

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The phony war of pre-season is over for the Blues but they showed enough during their victories over the Chiefs and Hurricanes in the blazing heat of Waihi and Takapuna that they may finally make an impact this season and their major weapons may be in their loose forward mix.

As the crowd at Onewa Domain last Friday attempted to find respite from the sun, young men such as Tom Robinson, Hoskins Sotutu, Akira Ioane, Tony Lamborn, Blake Gibson and Dalton Papalii set about raising the temperatures further for the Hurricanes with physical performances that even watching legends Eric Rush, Olo Brown and Sean Fitzpatrick would have been impressed by.

It is an area of unrivalled depth for the Blues and may provide Leon MacDonald with his toughest selection decisions this week as he prepares for a round one match against the Chiefs at Eden Park on Friday which will give a much clearer indication of where his team is at.

Two pre-season matches before a late January competition kick-off is not ideal preparation – previously three matches were the norm for most sides – but the Blues may enjoy a slight advantage here as the Chiefs had only an inter-squad trial behind closed doors as their second match.

Continue reading below…

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Robinson, the flame-haired 25-year-old who enjoyed an excellent debut Super Rugby season last year, was particularly effective with his front-on defence as the Hurricanes chased the game before losing 29-28.

He clearly has an appetite for hard work and connecting with either shoulder. He was on Steve Hansen’s radar last year and was an outside shot for a World Cup place before requiring knee surgery in June and Ian Foster is likely to be interested in his first year as All Blacks head coach.

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Robinson’s connection with Ioane, Gibson and Papalii in particular will be key for the Blues this year as all four are capable of winning turnovers and, while it was “just” a pre-season match last Friday, MacDonald’s men showed far greater patience on attack than last year and should they be as clinical against the Chiefs, a side with a similarly good loose forward trio, the result may be close.

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At 1.98m, Robinson also has the ability to play lock and that’s where he may find himself in the second half as Patrick Tuipulotu, the Blues’ skipper under All Black playing restrictions, is unlikely to play beyond the game’s three-quarter mark.

The clash between the opposing team’s loose forwards will add an intriguing twist to Warren Gatland’s return to Eden Park.

The Chiefs have power and precision among their loose forwards – particular in skipper Sam Cane and Pita Gus Sowakula. All Black Luke Jacobson, sent home from the World Cup without playing due to concussion, is likely to be available from round two or three. Mitchell Brown and Mitch Karpik are also capable players.

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Lamborn, 28, a Hawke’s Bay player who represented the United States at the recent World Cup, adds a different element to the Blues’ loose forward mix. He is clearly shorter in terms of stature compared with the rest but there’s no doubting his toughness.

Lamborn suffered a cut head against the Hurricanes on Friday and blood covered the previously white bandage wrapped around it, but he was keen to continue and did so after halftime.

“That’s why we like Tony and that’s why he’s with us,” MacDonald said. He’s pretty rugged and a keen competitor. He’s a little different to Blake and Dalton – he offers something different – but he plays with a lot of heart.”

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

Catch up on all the highlights from the Round 3 Top League fixture between the Kobelco Steelers and Suntory Sungoliath:

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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