Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ioane out, Sonny Bill in doubt for Rebels clash

GettyImages-923291720

The Blues welcome back All Blacks Ofa Tuungafasi and Sonny Bill Williams for Saturday’s Super Rugby clash against the Rebels at Eden Park while Rieko Ioane takes his enforced All Black break.

ADVERTISEMENT

Williams is bracketed with Bay of Plenty midfielder Terrence Hepetema after receiving a knock at the All Black camp this week. Tumua Manu will play his fourth game for the club, starting on the left wing in place of Ioane.

The Blues also welcome back prop Alex Hodgman to the starting line-up.

Hodgman is back after a wrist injury which sidelined him for nine games.

The other change in the pack sees Northland captain Matt Moulds make his first start for the season, with James Parsons not recovered from the head injury he received last week.

Counties Manukau lock Matiaha Martin earns a second start after impressing on debut as a late replacement for the Blues’ injury-hit locking stocks.

Michael Collins, who returned from a four-game injury break, as a replacement last week, comes back into the starting line-up at fullback with an in-form Matt Duffie back to his accustomed spot on the right wing.

Video Spacer

The game also coincides with the national Say My Name campaign, to recognise the importance of pronouncing players’ names correctly.

Blues lock Matiaha Martin, who is a Te Reo Maori teacher at Tangaroa College, knows well the challenge of pronouncing names correctly.

“Say My Name is an awesome initiative. I know myself that people have struggled with my name,” said Matiaha. “Because it has happened so many times I have just brushed it off. But there’s mana to my name and it is nice if it is pronounced properly. People want to pronounce your English name properly so the same for Maori is nice.”

BLUES

15. Michael Collins, 14. Matt Duffie, 13. Orbyn Leger, 12. Sonny Bill Williams/Terrence Hepetema, 11. Tumua Manu, 10. Stephen Perofeta, 9. Augustine Pulu (C); 8. Akira Ioane, 7. Dalton Papalii, 6. Jerome Kaino, 5. Matiaha Martin, 4. Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 3. Ofa Tuungafasi, 2. Matt Moulds, 1. Alex Hodgman.
Reserves: 16. Leni Apisai, 17. Pauliasi Manu, 18. Sione Mafileo, 19. Ben Nee-Nee, 20. Sione Havili, 21. Jonathan Ruru, 22. Bryn Gatland, 23 TJ Faiane/Terrence Hepetema.

In other news:

Video Spacer

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith' Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith'
Search