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Tuipulotu injury: Dalton Papali’i’s candid take on resuming Blues captaincy
All Blacks flanker Dalton Papali’i is ready to step up and embrace the opportunity to captain the Blues once again in the absence of injured skipper Patrick Tuipulotu.
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While the Blues initially confirmed in mid-January that Tuipulotu would lead the team in 2024, the second-rower was injured during a pre-season clash away to Japanese club Tokyo Sungoliath a few weeks ago.
Tuipulotu, 31, revealed at the Super Rugby Pacific season launch last week that he may return after “another six to eight weeks” on the sidelines.
During that period, Papali’i will captain the Blues – returning to the role that the star loose forward held for the last two seasons under former coach Leon MacDonald.
But when Tuipulotu recovers and is available for selection, Papali’i will have no issues with relinquishing the captaincy duties to one of his “best mates.”
“I’m so happy for him, he’s one of my best friends off the field,” Papali’i told Newshub after the Blues’ pre-season win over the Chiefs last week.
“Knowing that he’s stepped into that role, it was his before mine, so I took it as a caretaker.
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“(It’s like) the All Blacks, you never own the jersey, you just carry your legacy. That was the armband for me.
“Stepping into this role, I’ll do the best I can as always. But when Patty comes back, I’m straight behind him, I’ll follow him.”
Following a two-game stint in Japan and a win over the Chiefs in Auckland last week, the Blues are up there with the Highlanders as the form teams from pre-season.
But with the disappointment of last year’s 52-15 semi-final defeat to eventual champions the Crusaders still fresh in the minds of players and supporters, the Blues’ quest to make amends is about to begin.
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It all counts from now with the men from Auckland set to kick-off their regular season against the Fijian Drua in Whangarei on Saturday afternoon.
“This is why I play Super Rugby – to win,” Papali’i added. “We’ve come short (for) a few years now but every year you aim to win this thing.
“From these three games, we can take it into next week with confidence.
“It’s going to be a massive test next weekend against the Drua. They can turn it on whenever they want. Last year, when we went over there, it was one of the hardest games I’ve ever played.
“For the Blues and Vern (Cotter) as well, going into next week, we can take a lot of confidence out of the three performances against quality sides.
“We can take some good things out of that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Who listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
40 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
40 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
39 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
40 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to comments