Blues

The Blues, who were formally known as the Auckland Blues, are one of New Zealand's representatives in Super Rugby. Although the side haven't performed well in recent years, the Blues are still one of the most successful teams in the history of the competition.

Read on to learn even more about the Blues. As well as reading an in-depth history of the side, on this page you can also see the team's latest results and fixtures.

Like New Zealand's other Super Rugby sides, the Blues were formed in 1996 in order to take part in the newly-created Super 12 competition. Known as the Auckland Blues at the time, they were immediately successful and became established as an elite team. In the first three seasons of the competition, the Auckland Blues made it to the tournament's grand final. Although they were beaten by the Crusaders in 1998, the Auckland Blues won the first two editions of the tournament, beating the Sharks and the Brumbies.

In 2000, the Auckland Blues formally dropped their 'Auckland' prefix and simply became known as the Blues. Although they won the tournament once again in 2003, the team has struggled for consistency since. They've only reached the semi-final stage of the competition twice more and since the competition was revamped and became Super Rugby in 2011, they've regularly finished in the bottom half of the standings.

Over the years, some of world rugby's greatest stars have played for the Blues. In fact, almost 100 Blues players have been capped internationally by New Zealand. This includes household names such as Sonny Bill Williams, Jonah Lomu and Keven Mealamu.

Today, the Blues squad isn't as strong as it once was. However, several All Blacks players still regularly play for the Blues, including captain Patrick Tuipulotu, prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi and centre Rieko Ioane.