Caleb Clarke returns as Blues hit 'enemy territory' for Semi Final
A pair of milestones for Rieko Ioane (100) and Hoskins Sotutu (50) set the stage for what promises to be an epic DHL Super Rugby Pacific Semi Final showdown as the Blues travel to Christchurch to take on the Crusaders this Friday night at 7:05 pm NZT.
Caleb Clarke returns to the left wing in a near full-strength Blues side for the Semi Final, with Head Coach Leon MacDonald showing faith in those who’ve got the team to this point in the competition.
“It’s nice to be able to show some consistency in selection at this stage of the season; the boys going out there know what they need to do,” said MacDonald.
“There’s a history of epic battles between these two sides and I’m sure Friday will be no different. The Crusaders in Christchurch is a stern test, there’s no doubt about that but it’s games like this we all look forward to.”
MacDonald is all too aware that accuracy and cool heads are required in the high-pressure cauldron of knockout Super Rugby.
“Our season has been geared towards this, we showed patience against the Waratahs, held the ball for long periods and were accurate off the tee – we want to mirror all those qualities in another knockout contest this Friday.”
MacDonald also noted the two milestone men – Ioane and Sotutu – saying both have played pivotal roles for the Blues this season.
“Congrats to Rieko and Hoskins on reaching their 100th and 50th game milestones respectively,” he said.
“Rieko has been a rock for us at centre all season and I know he’s fired up to put in a big performance on Friday night. To play 100 games for the club is testament to the hard work he puts in to keep himself fit and available for selection. He has a leadership role within this team and I’m sure he’s got plenty more appearances in blue to come.”
“Hoskins has had a really strong season to date – his ball playing ability and work around the field make him a threat to any defence he comes up against. I know the boys want to put in a big one for both him and Rieko on Friday night.”
Blues Captain Dalton Papalii said his team had talked about relishing the opportunity to go down south and take on the Crusaders in their own backyard.
“Their record speaks for itself, they’ve never lost a finals game at home and we know we’ll have to be at our best to win this Semi Final.”
“We can take a lot of heart from the way we defended our line last time we were in Christchurch. We know we’re going down into enemy territory and are prepared to face the music. As a team we are walking towards this challenge and embracing everything that comes with being in a Semi Final – we can’t wait!”
Ofa Tuungafasi
Ricky Riccitelli
Nepo Laulala
Tom Robinson
James Tucker
Akira Ioane
Dalton Papalii (c)
Hoskins Sotutu – 50th cap
Finlay Christie
Beauden Barrett
Caleb Clarke
Bryce Heem
Rieko Ioane – 100th cap
Mark Telea
Zarn Sullivan
Reserves:
Kurt Eklund
Jordan Lay
Marcel Renata
Cameron Suafoa
Adrian Choat
Sam Nock
Harry Plummer
Stephen Perofeta
Players not considered: Sam Darry (arm, season), Alex Hodgman (shoulder, season), Tanielu Telea (knee), Patrick Tuipulotu (arm, season)
Via Press Release/Blues
Comments on RugbyPass
My heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
76 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
76 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to comments