Blues player ratings vs Brumbies | Super Rugby Pacific
The Blues have dug deep and produced a top-drawer win over a stubborn Brumbies outfit to clinch their place in the Super Rugby Pacific final, which they will host against the Crusaders in Auckland next week.
Here’s how the Blues rated in their 20-19 victory at Eden Park on Saturday:
1. Alex Hodgman – 7
Made a nuisance of himself at the breakdown, winning the Blues possession early in the first half. Replicated that feat not long afterwards to get his side out of jail well inside their own territory. Would be surprised to see him excluded from the All Blacks squad on Monday. Off in the 51st minute.
2. Kurt Eklund – 6
Worked in tandem with Josh Goodhue to make their defensive presence felt with a thumping two-man tackle on an opposition player early in the piece. Mostly threw well at the lineout. Conceded a silly yellow card for a tip tackle on Andy Muirhead. Probably fortunate it wasn’t a red.
3. Nepo Laulala – 7
Strong effort at the scrum against veteran counterpart James Slipper to win his side a penalty in the 18th minute. Did the same thing again in the 38th minute. Backbone stuff. Lucky not to have been punished for his involvement in the Muirhead tackle that got Eklund sin binned. Off in the 58th minute.
4. Josh Goodhue – 6
Teamed up with Eklund to smash one of his opponents early on. Won the Blues some lineout pill on occasion and got around the field without too much fuss. Off in the 58th minute.
5. Tom Robinson – 8
Showed soft hands to pop the ball into the clutches of Rieko Ioane in the lead-up to Hoskins Sotutu’s try. At his aerobic best at the lineout and was busy with ball in hand. Ran the second-most metres of any Blues forward, didn’t miss a tackle and was his side’s chief lineout option. Capped it all off my pinching an absolutely vital lineout steal right on his own tryline inside the final 10 minutes. Stellar effort.
6. Akira Ioane – 6
Carried often but without much notoriety in the first half, with his first notable moment on attack coming 10 minutes into the second half, when he hustled and bustled his way through some lacklustre defence.
7. Adrian Choat – 4
Poor defensive read from the side of the scrum gave Irae Simone the space needed to score from early in the match. Topped his side’s tackle count with nine to his name, but had his uneventful night brought to an end with a yellow card for a head clash with Tom Wright.
8. Hoskins Sotutu – 8
Capped off a sweeping Blues counter-attack emphatically by busting through a few Brumbies defenders from close range to score his side’s first try. Fronted up on defence as well, thwarting one promising Brumbies attack with a good strip of the ball near the half hour mark. Admirably stepped in to assume responsibility as lineout thrower with Eklund in the sin bin, and acquitted himself well on that front. A bit of ill-discipline near the end of the match marred what was otherwise a superb showing.
9. Finlay Christie – 6
Was his nippy self for the most part of the first half, but perhaps lacked a little bit of accuracy or poise on attack. Still managed to pop up here, there and everywhere for as long as he was on the park. Thumping tackle to stop Jahrome Brown in his tracks late in the contest.
10. Beauden Barrett (c) – 9
Got good value out of putting boot to ball to test the Brumbies’ backfield in slippery conditions, forcing a knock-on out of Tom Hooper, a misread from Noah Lolesio and a collision between Nic White and Tom Banks. He was, however, uncharacteristically burnt for pace by Simone en route to his first-up try, but did his best to make up for it from the ensuing re-start by holding a Brumbies player up to earn his side a scrum. Looked threatening whenever he opted to take on defenders and was constantly the focal point of his side’s attack, as illustrated by his ability to beat four defenders and fling a back-handed offload away to help put Mark Telea over for a try in the corner. Unlucky to have his 45m drop goal attempt denied by the crossbar on the stroke of half-time. Clutch last-ditch tackle to prevent the rampant Banks from scoring in the 54th minute, but couldn’t quite score one himself when he was held up over the line in the 62nd minute. Regardless, it was an immense showing by the star playmaker.
11. Mark Telea – 6.5
Was mostly quiet up until he dotted down near half-time, when he did well to stay on his feet and wriggle his way over the chalk while being tangled up in a tackle. Had some good moments, even if they were far and few between, but was one of many Blues players who were guilty of letting ill-discipline creep into his game near full-time.
12. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck – 6
A quiet night for the cross-code superstar. Largely nullified by the Brumbies defence and was utilised in a strictly ball-carrying role – which he executed well, aside from a glaring handling error and costly penalty concession – but didn’t really get to see his glittering footwork in action. Parked himself out on the wing a lot of the time. Perhaps a sign of things to come moving forward?
13. Rieko Ioane – 7
Showed good support play and patience with ball in hand leading up to Sotutu’s try. Brilliant line break near the end of the first half to set in motion the events that led to Telea’s try. Got stood up twice in the same play by Muirhead and Banks, only to be spared his blushes by Barrett’s try-saving defence.
14. AJ Lam – 8
Helped Barrett win his side a scrum feed inside the first few minutes with some staunch defensive presence. Lovely decision-making and patience in the build-up to Telea’s try as he picked his moment perfectly to find Christie among a cluster of Brumbies defenders. Followed that up with a powerful charge upfield to provide the Blues with the momentum that should have paved the way for a try to Barrett. Won a vital breakdown turnover in the 67th minute to stifle the opposition’s attack well inside his own half. Looked well at home in the absence of regular Blues power wing Caleb Clarke.
15. Stephen Perofeta – 8
Used as a turnstile by Simone in the lead-up to the match’s opening try, but made up for it with an outstanding try-saving tackle to hold Banks up over the line. Instigated a try-scoring counter-attack with some incisive running in back play before popping a deft offload into the hands of Tom Robinson. Bagged a try assist for Telea and kicked all his goals without fail. Beautiful short ball put Barrett into acres of space, only to be denied a try over the line. Poor start aside, it was a quality showing by the All Blacks prospect.
Reserves
16. Soane Vikena – N/A
17. Karl Tu’inukuafe – 6
On in the 51st minute. Didn’t touch the ball at all, instead putting himself to work on the defensive and set piece front.
18. Ofa Tuungafasi – 7
On in the 58th minute. Struggled to live up to the scrummaging standards set by Laulala, giving away a scrum-related penalty in the 66th minute. However, he came up with probably the most important play of the evening, charging down a Noah Lolesio drop goal in the dying moments of the game.
19. Luke Romano – 6
On in the 58th minute. Showed some good ball-playing skills upon his introduction into the match.
Comments on RugbyPass
As long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
120 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
120 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
120 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
4 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to comments