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'Has Leon turned them into the Crusaders?': Twitter erupts as Blues remain undefeated in Super Rugby Aotearoa
Another impressive showing by the Blues has left Twitter in awe of Leon MacDonald’s side as they maintain their place at the summit of the Super Rugby Aotearoa standings after two rounds of action.
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The men from Auckland travelled to Hamilton in search of their first win in the city since 2011, and came away with a hard-fought, but well-deserved, 24-12 victory, with tries to Hoskins Sotutu and Mark Telea sealing the deal against their tryless opponents.
The result should dispel any notion that the Blues stand as title pretenders – rather than title contenders – as they backed up their impressive 30-20 win over the Hurricanes at Eden Park last week with a strong display where many players flourished.
Set to face the Highlanders back at home in seven days’ time, the Blues could expect to see another bumper crowd walk through the turnstiles after Saturday night’s effort, if the reaction on Twitter is anything to go by.
Many punters have lauded the in-form franchise for their efforts against the Chiefs, who many considered to be favourites given the strength of their squad.
Much of the praise was aimed at MacDonald, with one user even suggesting that the former Crusaders star is churning the long-underperforming club into a side that could emulate the franchise he won seven Super Rugby titles with.
The @BluesRugbyTeam haven’t looked this steely and tough in years. Has Leon turned them into the Crusaders ? #CHIvBLU #SuperRugbyAotearoa
— Adam Burns (@AJKBurns) June 20, 2020
Leon MacDonald providing excellent proof that Gatland ball doesn’t work in the Southern Hemisphere #SuperRugbyAotearoa #CHIvBLU
— James Peti (@jpeti267) June 20, 2020
Outstanding win for the hot running @BluesRugbyTeam #CHIvBLU
Franchise record for away wins!
Fantastic rugby all round! Well done @ChiefsRugby @NZRugby @AllBlacks @SuperRugbyNZ #SuperRugbyAotearoa #AucklandBlues #SportWinsTheDay#ProudKiwi #MatthewHunt#RIPMatthewHunt@nzpolice— Timmo. Capt Yank&Bank? ?? (@KiwiPilotBloke) June 20, 2020
@BluesRugbyTeam were on point today. Even more so in poor conditions. Handling in that last try was off the scale. #CHIvBLU
— Nigel Burke (@nigelburke11) June 20, 2020
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#CHIvBLU Been a tough number of years but damn we are looking the business this season @BluesRugbyTeam ??
— Mark Muchai (@Muchaiki) June 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/theweekdaez/status/1274263976012967936
Definitely not saying it's our year…but I am thinking it!!! #BluesAllDay #CHIvBLU
— Robbie Feldmann (@robbie_f84) June 20, 2020
The Auckland Blues register their first win in Hamilton since 2011.
This team is looking Impressive.#SuperRugbyAotearoa #CHIvBLU
— NXTGEN Group (@nxtgensportsgrp) June 20, 2020
Still a fair few penalties, but it felt like both sides were trying to be more disciplined in that match.
Great victory for the Blues. Brilliant late try to seal the win after hanging in there in the first half. #SuperRugbyAotearoa #CHIvBLU
— Oli Lathrope (@olilathrope) June 20, 2020
#CHIvBLU blues of previous years lose that match comfortably! Fantastic win after being under the pump due to our own discipline
— Rob Maxwell (@rmax84) June 20, 2020
While MacDonald earned plenty of compliments for the work he’s done from the coaching ranks, others took to Twitter to express how impressed they were with the performances of the Auckland side’s forward pack.
Among those to have stood out was player of the match Hoskins Sotutu, who has established himself as one of the most promising young players in Super Rugby this year, and has been earmarked as a potential successor to Kieran Read as the All Blacks‘ No. 8.
Elsewhere, skipper Patrick Tuipulotu was another subject of praise, with one fan going as far to say the 27-year-old – who earlier this week signed a three-year contract extension with New Zealand Rugby – is the best lock on the planet.
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Really good win by the Blues. Their resurgance continues. Patrick Tuipulotu and Hoskins Sotutu were absolutely superb #CHIvBLU #SuperRugbyAotearoa
— Sean (@SeanTafirenyika) June 20, 2020
2/2 for @BluesRugbyTeam – Hoskin and Patty were huge, love the speed Nock and Christie deliver the ruck ball at, for so long we’ve suffered ponderous half backs and now we actually can look deadly with fast ball #CHIvBLU
— Rogan (@rmtempler) June 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/bengully/status/1274264866325508096
How good was big Pat Tuipulotu today though ?? #CHIvBLU #SuperRugbyAotearoa
— FG Rugby (@_fgrugby) June 20, 2020
After their fair share of false dawns over the last few years, the Blues look like they’re really and truly back. #SuperRugbyAotearoa #CHIvBLU
— Leonard Solms ?? ??????? (@LeonSolms) June 20, 2020
Due to the conditions it wasn’t really a platform for attacking rugby, although the Blues did a good job of bottling up Mckenzie he couldn’t get anything going. We knew the Blues had the back, but the forwards showed grit tonight. Sotutu pure quality, the future? #CHIvBLU
— Ciaron Noble (@CiaronNoble98) June 20, 2020
Hoskins Sotutu will be an All Black. #CHIvBLU
— Roland Rutihinda (@RoroRuti) June 20, 2020
Regardless of where Sotutu and Tuipulotu stand in the national set-up, it’s clear to see there is plenty of hype surrounding this exciting Blues team, which appears to finally be realising its potential as title candidates after 17 trophy-less years.
Comments on RugbyPass
The rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
76 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments