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Report: Eddie Jones intent on brazenly luring Hoskins Sotutu to England

Hoskins Sotutu and Eddie Jones. (Photos by Getty Images)

England coach Eddie Jones is reportedly keen on swooping in on Hoskins Sotutu, one of Super Rugby Aotearoa’s breakout stars, after the Blues No 8 revealed he qualifies to play for England via his mother.

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Sotutu – who also qualifies for Fiji through his father, former Fiji and Blues player Waisake Sotutu – has been groomed as a future All Blacks star after a series of dominant performances in the Blues’ unbeaten start to the season.

New Fiji coach Vern Cotter is reportedly hopeful of luring Sotutu but now England have come knocking as well, according to The Telegraph.

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Long-time NZ rugby journalist Ross Karl is joined by two players each week to discuss the ins and outs of the great game in New Zealand.

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Long-time NZ rugby journalist Ross Karl is joined by two players each week to discuss the ins and outs of the great game in New Zealand.

Jones is no stranger to recruiting players from Kiwi Super Rugby, having selected Piers Francis while he was at the Blues in 2017 and former Hurricane Brad Shields.

Born and raised in New Zealand, the 21-year-old Sotutu admits he will probably have to make a decision about his future soon.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBrNRFDgBut/

“Whatever is next will come,” Sotutu told the New Zealand Herald last week. “I’ve got my dad’s Fijian heritage and that Kiwi side and my mum is English as well so I can qualify for an English passport.

“When the decision comes it will come easy but for the moment I’m just focusing on the Blues.

“I’m still learning. I’m taking this as my debut season and trying to find my feet and keep working on my craft.”

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To qualify for England, Sotutu would have to move to the Premiership, where there are several clubs interested in his services, reports The Telegraph.

Sotutu, who played most of his life in the backs, appears to be exactly the type of No 8 Jones is looking for at England, having already experimented with selections during the Six Nations.

“We’ve decided to go for a different way of playing at No 8, without Billy. And that’s a judgement call,” Jones said before the start of the championship.

“You are always looking at a balance between your 4/5/6/7/8, a balance between ball-running capabilities, defensive capabilities, work-rate capabilities. We’ve got a view of how we can be most effective in that area without a Billy-type player.”

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All of which could lead to a fascinating tug of war, with All Blacks coach Ian Foster likely to try and move quickly to secure Sotutu’s services when international tests end up returning.

Sotutu has represented the New Zealand Secondary Schools side and the New Zealand Under-20s team.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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