Lima Sopoaga gets his shot
The buildup to this Saturday night’s third Bledisloe Cup test has been about as low key as a South African Jerome Garces appreciation party.
However, while the game is meaningless in terms of the over-sized cup finding a new home across the ditch, there are a couple of interesting storylines. The first of which is that everyone seems to have forgotten that the last time these two teams played, it was one of the greatest test matches in recent memory.
Also, it’s the first time this season that the All Blacks will take the field without 2016’s World Player of the Year Beauden Barrett. Again though, this hasn’t really caused a much of a stir among All Black supporters – given that the guy coming in to fill the number 10 jersey has a reputation of reliability and nerveless goal kicking ability.
Because of Barrett’s head injury against the Springboks, Lima Sopoaga is getting his second starting berth. Barrett’s irresistible form has meant he’s been more or less the first guy picked ever since he took over from Dan Carter, and Sopoaga has patiently bided his time on the bench – mostly playing a few cameo roles at the end of already decided tests.
The two notable exceptions to this were his only other start and the All Blacks’ most recent game. Both against the Springboks, both in highly pressurised situations.
In Johannesburg in 2015, Dan Carter’s injury gave Sopoaga a chance to make his debut at the cauldron that is Ellis Park. It’s also worth noting that the Springboks hadn’t quite hit the downhill slide that saw them lose to Japan and Italy, in fact they’d beaten the All Blacks the last time they’d played at the venue. Sopoaga made one of the more remarkable first test appearances, scoring 12 points off the boot in a flawless display and setting up a try for Ben Smith.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2J7jVGAUEQ
It’s also worth noting that his last outing in South Africa came at a time when the Springboks decided to cast off the mantle of being World Rugby’s basketcase, putting in an awe-inspiring effort to go down to the All Blacks 25-24 in Cape Town. Barrett’s aforementioned injury meant that Sopoaga played the majority of the game at first five, nailing a succession of crucial goal kicks in an assured performance. He was even at the centre of the defining play of the game, a botched charge down by Damian de Allende that ended up with the Bok midfielder being red carded.
But this isn’t really anything new for the Wellington-born pivot. Sopoaga shifted south after a few seasons with his home province, seeing that his path to the Hurricanes 10 jersey would be blocked by rising star Barrett for more or less the rest of their careers.
His move to the Highlanders worked out pretty well, in the end. In a nice bit of irony he ended up playing against the franchise that watched him leave in the 2015 Super Rugby final. Despite the fact that the Hurricanes had massacred the Highlanders just a few weeks earlier in the regular season, Sopoaga guided the Highlanders to an unlikely 21-14 win at Westpac Stadium.
Cool, level-headed and dependable all sum up Sopoaga pretty well. Given that the All Blacks will be happy just to get in and out of Suncorp Stadium with a regulation win, a guy like that is all they need.
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
70 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!
70 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