1
Blues player ratings vs Chiefs | Super Rugby Pacific
The Blues returned to Eden Park for Saturday’s round three match against rivals the Chiefs in Super Rugby Pacific.
ADVERTISEMENT
The team that was narrowly defeated by the Hurricanes in their first game of the season was retained, with the only change to line-up seeing Dalton Papalii take his place at flanker and captain. The Battle of the Bombays went right down to the wire, with both teams exchanging tries throughout the game.
The Blues hit back late to take the lead with 10 minutes to go. The Chiefs had a chance to win the game after a Blues gave away a penalty on full-time, but the Blues hung on to secure an important victory.
Here’s how the Blues rated:
1. Alex Hodgman – 5.5
Chiefs had the upper-hand on the Blues scrum and Hodgman was pinged for collapsing more than once. Subbed in the 52 minute.
2. Kurt Eklund – 7
Secured a number of clean turnovers at crucial times in the game. Lost a throw against the head, with Kaylum Boshier snagging it. Was excellent in the forward battle.
3. Nepo Laulala – 6
Put in a solid shift at the scrum but was overpowered at times, especially when the Blues went down a man for 10 minutes and shifted Sotutu to the wing for cover. Got around the park to support his forwards. Subbed off in the 54th minute.
4. Luke Romano – 6
Forming a good combination with his fellow locking partner Goodhue. Was excellent at lineout time and made some strong carries to get the Blues over the advantage line. Replaced with 20 minutes to go.
5. Josh Goodhue – 7
For the second week in a row, Goodhue put in a massive shift. Was tireless in defence and ran the lineout well. There were a few times he found himself going backwards as a result of running too high into contact, but he emptied the tank and put the Blues in a good position to win the match.
6. Tom Robinson – 7
Was a reliable target in the lineout and made plenty of hard carries. Often did the dirty jobs the other forwards shied away from. He will be forgiven for causing an obstruction by getting in front of Tu’ungafasi to give the Chiefs a shot at winning the game on full-time.
7. Dalton Papalii – 7.5
Returned to captain the Blues and led by example. Was all over the park in defence and acted as a disrupter in the rucks. It was a classy display and he proved a great match for Chiefs veteran Sam Cane.
8. Hoskins Sotutu – 6.5
Was able to find space one-out from the ruck to get a few balls free to his fellow forwards. Let the ball bounce which resulted in Brad Weber’s try. Made up for it in the second half by charging down a clearance kick and scoring the try to put the Blues ahead for the first time.
9. Finlay Christie – 6
His fast service allowed the Blues attack to keep the tempo up and stay in the game. Unfortunately, opportunities for him to scamper from the base of the ruck and get past defenders were few and far between. Subbed off for Nock with 20 minutes to go.
10. Harry Plummer – 5
The Blues attack was stilted under Plummer’s watch and they struggled to put together many phases. His distribution was a bit off and he made some poor tactical kicking decisions. Was moved to inside centre as cover for RTS after half time.
11. Caleb Clarke – 6.5
Was at his powerful best. Regathered a wayward pass and barged through two defenders to score the Blues opening try. He targeted the Chiefs defenders inside shoulders and made plenty of tackle breaks. Was binned for a deliberate knockdown when the Chiefs were hot on attack.
12. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck – 6
Was solid in defence with the Chiefs running the ball down his channel all day. Was able to contain his opposite number Tupaea. Was subbed off at half time.
13. Rieko Ioane – 6.5
Quiet day by his standards. Had some hard carries but was pretty well contained and we didn’t see him in open spaces too often during the game.
14. Mark Telea – 6
Was rapid down the right-hand touchline. Got stood up by Nanai-Seturo for the Chiefs second try. Seemed to suffer an arm injury in the first half but shook it off fairly quickly and lasted until the final whistle, scoring the match-winning try for the Blues.
15. Stephen Perofeta – 7.5
Was dangerous all game. Solid under the highball and spotted some gaps in the Chiefs defence early using his deceptive speed. Showed pace to get on the outside of Nanai-Seturo to put Mark Telea over in the corner with five minutes to go. Put the cherry on top by icing the conversion to put the Blues in the lead.
Reserves
16. Ricky Riccitelli – N/A
Came on in the 70th minute and was serviceable at line-out time.
17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi – 6.5
Put in the game with Clarke still in the bin. Along with Renata, they were able to shore up the scrum. Made some great individual tackles.
18. Marcel Renata – 6
Came on and was solid at scrum time.
19. Sam Darry – N/A
Came on for Romano late in the game.
20. Adrian Choat – N/A
21. Sam Nock – 5
Played about 20 minutes. Was a part of the Blues late charge.
22. Beauden Barrett – 6.5
Finally got in the game at halftime after battling a concussion during the offseason. Showed a steady hand to lead around the blues backline but couldn’t get into any rhythm in attack.
23. AJ Lam – N/A
Came on to replace an injured Plummer at the 70th minute.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn 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.
11 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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.
26 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?
11 Go to comments