Masterful performance: Otere Black reminds New Zealand that the Blues have three expert first fives on their books
That was a performance to remember for Otere Black – and it was a long time coming.
The Blues got their Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign off to a dazzling start in front of a packed-out Eden Park with a 30-20 win over the Hurricanes, thanks largely to a career-best performance by Black, a man many had written off in recent weeks.
At perhaps the most pivotal moment in his young career, Black paid back the faith of Blues selectors to start in a match that was supposed to be all about Beauden Barrett.
The headlines on Sunday evening belong to the man from Manawatu who, with his 15-points and flawless kicking display, showed that he could make plays, time his passes to perfection, and run the backline at both first and second receiver.
There will be a lot of chatter about the influence that Barrett and Dan Carter had on the Blues’ big win, but to look past Black in that 80-minutes of rugby would be incredibly naive.
Some big metres from the Blues' big left wing – but was he the best on the park in their win over the Hurricanes? #SuperRugbyAotearoa #BLUvHURhttps://t.co/aRPx5MRUOE
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 14, 2020
The confidence that the 25-year old showed in his game today was remarkable; he was entirely unfazed by the massive crowd and bulky size of tacklers targeting him. Black, like most first fives, has never been the biggest man on the rugby field in any given game, but he never looked rushed in the showdown with the Hurricanes – which should remind rugby fans of other Kiwi greats to don the same number jersey.
Where Carlos Spencer was all about the razzle-dazzle during the Blues heyday, Otere Black plays in a style similar to that of an Aaron Cruden and new Blues teammate Dan Carter, with the ability to place kicks perfectly both in the air and along the ground without having to do anything flashy.
Executing set piece or in broken play, Black also held the pass just long enough to give more room to his outside runners in the performance against the Hurricanes. Black can thank the hard work of his forward pack, particularly the impact of loosie Hoskins Sotutu, who cracked the line to give the Blues great go-forward ball throughout.
Oh, but the influence of Barrett and Carter? No, these are bits to Blacks’ game that he’s been working on for a long time.
Black deserves all the credit, you’d be hard stretched to find a better performance out of the 25-year old that matched today’s showing and its importance cannot be underscored enough.
Great things have been expected of the Black almost since he first caught the eye back in the green and white Manawatu Turbos strip. Following on from that, Black stood out for the New Zealand Under 20 side before losing some of his momentum when he started out his Super Rugby career with the Hurricanes – thanks, in part, to a run of unfortunate injuries.
Cut from the same cloth as the likes of Ihaia West, Mitch Hunt and Josh Ioane, it was perhaps these three that many saw as bright talents for the future and who were lumped with lofty expectations.
Today, Black met and exceeded those expectations, and it’s truly fascinating that it came at this time in particular.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBZ2DRGgaAj/
All the headlines about the Blues ahead of Super Rugby Aotearoa have been about Barrett and Carter. Any talk about Black in the press has been around him being something of the unluckiest player in New Zealand Rugby, to have those two stars arrive in camp as he was preparing and finally ready to get concentrated time running the Blues backline.
It would’ve been an easy, perhaps even safer bet by Blues coach Leon MacDonald to have Barrett start at first five instead of Black or to do a straight swap of the two later in the match, especially considering the likes of Matt Duffie and Harry Plummer also being in the stable.
That, as it turns out, would’ve been a tremendous lost opportunity because the pairing of Black and Barrett seemed to gel without any issue whatsoever. What’s more, that pairing looked more fluid and certain for the Blues than the much-talked-about Mo’unga/Barrett combination at first five and fullback respectively ever did in 2019 for the All Blacks.
That should really say something about the merits of Black’s performance against the Hurricanes. It’s only early days in Super Rugby Aotearoa, but Black has already positioned himself as the first five of form.
Who would’ve thought that little over a week ago? Certainly not those who wrote Black off and painted Beauden Barrett as the great Blues saviour.
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 …
27 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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