Beauden Barrett set for mid-April return as Blues prepare to break play-off drought
The Blues are optimistic.
It is December, after all, and not a shot has been fired in Super Rugby. We say this every year with New Zealand’s most underperforming franchise.
But there is an air of confidence that they will gradually build on the inexorable progress made in 2019 when they proved far harder to beat, despite their final unimposing 5-1-10 record, and should have won 5-6 more games than they did.
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They had an open training session at their Auckland base today, turned back the clock with some 5-a-side games involving old legends such as Doug Howlett and Daniel Braid, announced plans for a pitchside bar at their competition opener at Eden Park, and went old school with the choice of Onewa Domain as the venue for their January 24 pre-season clash with the Hurricanes.
Oh yes, and coach Leon MacDonald is looking at a mid-April return to action for their star signing Beauden Barrett, who is on extended sabbatical. The All Blacks fullback cum first five has been jet-setting around the globe, playing golf, and buying a new property in the city of sails. He has also fitted in the odd gym session at Blues HQ, as has fellow All Black Ofa Tuungafasi. Barrett will, however, likely ease back into footy with his Taranaki club Coastal.
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While the Hurricanes and the Crusaders have had distractions around the make-up of their coaching staff as the All Blacks coaching saga played out, the Blues have been able to move serenely on with their work. That suits second-year head coach MacDonald.
“We’ve been really impressed with the state everyone turned up after a month off. That set them up, so we’ve had a really good (three-week) pre-season and we’ve come together well,” he says.
That led into today’s first concerted contact session, which is vital given that the Super Rugby kickoff against the Chiefs is on January 31, the earliest in the competition’s 25-year history.
“We’ve been talking about that since day one. We need to be game-fit by the end of January. The days of thinking about contact after New Year’s are long gone,” MacDonald says.
There is a decent look to the roster. Rieko Ioane, who suddenly has plenty to prove, will be given a crack at centre. He turned up walking his dog today. Like the other All Blacks, other than Barrett, he is due back to full training in January.
And yet while the Blues will need to get through the first 10 weeks or so with their halves before Barrett slots in, there is a useful, yet unheralded, aspect to their recruitment.
They have signed several older, more seasoned pros who will do the job on the field and help lift standards off it. That in itself will not guarantee a run to the playoffs, but it will galvanise the group and add to the intra-squad competition. So step forward loose forward Tony Lamborn, once of the Hurricanes via the USA Eagles, hooker Kurt Eklund, who played for the Blues in their winning 2018 10s side, bruising former Highlanders hooker Ray Niuia and Northland wing Jordan Hyland, who is back in the fold.
No captain has yet been announced but it would surprise if it wasn’t All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu, who was co-skipper in 2019.
Munster medic sparks sideline brawl:
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
10 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
10 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
10 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments