Mark Tele'a of the Blues celebrates his try with teammates. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Analysis - Super Rugby is back for 2024, with a fresh look and a commitment to running rugby. The second of our New Zealand team previews assesses last year's semi-finalists, the Blues.
Read the Crusaders team preview
Overview
The Blues come into yet another season with a ton of expectations on them. They're laden with All Blacks and there's not really any excuse for them not to be among the top contenders, but can they actually win it? The key factors for them are to A) turn Eden Park into a fortress and B) not let its walls be torn down by the Crusaders, again.
Vern Cotter comes in as the new coach, but his squad is more or less the same as the one that took the field last season - with one key exception. Cotter has earned a reputation as a no-nonsense boss in a wide range of teams from French club rugby to Scotland and Fiji, this gig will be his first back in New Zealand in two decades.
Fiji coach Vern Cotter. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The good
All the parts are there. The Blues possess a very well-balanced side with an experienced front row, promising locks and the real strength of their pack being in the loose forwards. They will score plenty of tries out wide thanks to a talented backline, depth on the bench looks fairly healthy, and they look to be building a decent set of youngsters for the future. The Blues also have the biggest market to tap into if they get on a hot streak, plus they've pulled a PR coup by releasing a very warmly received throwback jersey.
The bad
Beauden Barrett is gone, for now, and Patrick Tuipulotu is out thanks to a broken jaw in preseason. So, there's a ton of experience lost, plus Tuipulotu had been named captain meaning that presumably Cotter had to go and have an awkward conversation with Dalton Papalii about giving him back the job. Then there's the fact that if they want to win this comp, they will almost certainly have to beat the Crusaders at some stage - something they've only achieved once in their last 18 meetings.
Photo: www.photosport.nz / John Davidson
Big shoes to fill
Stephen Perofeta has already played plenty at first five and fullback for the Blues and been capped at test level, but this really is his season to take charge and make the team his own. Barrett's absence now means a fair degree of freedom for Perofeta, who will presumably kick the goals and handle the key decisions in the backline. He has one season to really establish himself and launch his career into the fresh Rugby World Cup cycle, before Barrett returns - a situation that will be interesting if Perofeta does what Cotter wants him to this season.
Stephen Perofeta. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
What they're saying
"This is why I play Super Rugby, it's to win. We've come short a few years now, but every year you aim to win this thing" - Dalton Papalii.
"It's really the players that will come up with the solutions. They're the guys on the field, doing the business. We're only there guiding them and helping them a little bit with reflecting on how they can get better in performance situations" - Vern Cotter.
Fan critique
It says a lot about this ironically named team's fans that the most excited they've got in ages was over a throwback jersey. Not that it doesn't look great, the reaction sums up just how far in the past most of these people's heads are at. To put it in perspective: people taking their kids along to Eden Park this season were literally children themselves the last time the Blues lifted a (real) trophy. There's plenty of time to get depressed thinking about just how out of reach success has been when they're stuck in traffic on the Southern Motorway, surrounded by immaculately clean Ford Rangers that belonging to lawyers and accountants whose biggest struggle in life is parallel parking.
Blues fan. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
Key games
The Crusaders in round four at Eden Park shapes up as not only a huge battle on the field, but off it, too. By then the NRL season will have started and the battle for the hearts and minds of Auckland's sporting public will be back on. The Blues also face the Canes, Highlanders, Crusaders and Chiefs in the run-in to the quarterfinals, but three of those games are at home.
Blues 2024 squad
Props: Jordan Lay, Marcel Renata, Angus Ta'avao, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, PJ Sheck, Joshua Fusitu'a
Hookers: Kurt Eklund, Ricky Riccitelli, Soane Vikena
Locks: Sam Darry, Laghlan McWhannell, Patrick Tuipulotu, Josh Beehre
Loose forwards: Adrian Choat, Akira Ioane, Dalton Papali'I, Rob Rush, Anton Segner, Hoskins Sotutu, Cameron Suafoa, James Thompson
Halfbacks: Finlay Christie, Sam Nock, Taufa Funaki
First five eighths: Stephen Perofeta, Zarn Sullivan, Lucas Cashmore
Midfielders: Corey Evans, Harry Plummer, Bryce Heem, Meihana Grindlay
Outside backs: Caleb Clarke, Rieko Ioane, AJ Lam, Mark Tele'a, Kade Banks, Cole Forbes, Caleb Tangitau.
On Monday we preview the Hurricanes.
