Blues 2018
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Blues leadership guided by Pulu for 2018 Super Rugby season
Halfback Augustine Pulu will captain the Blues in the 2018 Investec Super Rugby Championships.
Coach Tana Umaga said Pulu, along with previous captains Jerome Kaino and James Parsons, form part of the senior leadership group.
“Both James and Jerome are sidelined for some time from surgeries and I wanted our captain to take the reins on the paddock from day one of training.
“Of course both James and Jerome will continue to play invaluable leadership roles in this team and will be key contributors in all aspects.
“Augie has proven captaincy experience in the Mitre-10 Cup and will add a fresh spark to the team.”
Pulu has played 64 games in Super Rugby as well as representing New Zealand in Sevens at the Rio Olympics and has two All Black caps.
“It’s an honour to lead a club like the Blues. We have a good bunch of guys returning and some exciting new players coming in,” said Pulu. “With the help of the leadership group, I want to mould them into a strong team.
“I think we have made real progress in my time here and hope I can do my job as a player and as a captain for the Blues.
“We have to work so hard every day, on and off the field. I believe we can win the Super Rugby title – that’s my goal for the team.”
The Blues also announced that Ben Afeaki, the former New Zealand Maoris and All Black prop, has been appointed as scrum coach. He has enjoyed that role for North Harbour in the Mitre 10 Cup.
Four young players, all part of the Blues Under-20s and selected for the New Zealand Under-20 training squad, join the Blues for 10 weeks fulltime training as part of the Interim Training Contract scheme. They are Rob Cobb, Hoskins Sotutu, Harry Plummer and Tanielu Tele’a.
There are a further nine players who have joined as replacements for injured or for All Blacks and Maori All Blacks who are staged back into Super Rugby in January. The eight are Marcel Renata (Auckland), Ross Wright (Northland), Jacob Pierce (Auckland), Antonio Kirikiri (Manawatu), Lewis Gjaltema (North Harbour), Orbyn Leger (Counties Manukau), Sione Havili (Auckland) and Jordan Hyland (Northland).
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@wurzel not to mention his form was hardly compelling enough to warrant guaranteed starts...I guess the only consolation is that neither back up 9 are probably pushing hard enough to press claims to start, but if they do, it makes it harder to drop your captain.
Wasn't Parsons captain last year?
Interesting to see Wright there, I had heard he was being looked at as injury cover in another franchise, but still great news for him, 2017 been a huge year for the 31 year old who debuted for Northland in 2009.
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One of the podcasts talked about Pulu earlier this year. Their "inside word" was that Pulu was good at maintaining standards off the field, and that the attitude of the Blues' All Blacks wasn't great when they returned to the squad after the Lions series, with Pulu being one of the few who would have the "mana"/character to stand-up to those players and correct the attitude. Parsons might be too nice to be able to do that.
Wouldn't be my choice as on-field captain though.
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Im a bigger fan of Pulu than most. He's not a conventional 9 but he's a bloody good rugby player.
Having a decent 10 outside him might help too.
Parsons was ok as captain but i'm happy with the change.
Excellent to see the young guns Plummer etc training with the squad over preseason and the replacement pickups look tidy too - Orbyn Ledger in particular.
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I like some of the young players we picked up there.
Pulu's erratic play doesn't seem suited for captaincy duties. You sort of want someone steady and consistent in that position. Pulu is a talker though, which is probably what the Blues need in a captain now, but he has too many silly plays in him, which isn't ideal for a captain.
Not a fan of Parsons either, though. We are sort of stuck for now in regards to captains. Guys like Dalton Papali'i and TJ Faiane have traits that are well suited for captaincy, but both aren't set starters yet.
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@dice yeah pretty thin on candidates for a leader, unless you go back to Kaino, PT doesn't seem ideal...Blake Gibson would be a player who demands selection, but not sure on his leadership.
I'm not a fan of Parsons full stop, but he leads NH and did for the Blues last year.
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@kiwimurph I think if Pulu reigns in the errors, he'll be fine. His error rate was not near as high at the Chiefs as it was with the Blues this year. I think Tana just lets him go rouge here, which leads him to trying too much. A good 10 could help that though, as he might not be compelled to do so much.
@taniwharugby Yup, I think going back to Kaino would be a backwards move.
From what I've seen of Gibson over the years, he's quiet as a mouse and seems pretty camera shy. He use to stutter like crazy in pre/post-game interviews when he was captain at St Kents, so I don't think he'd want captaincy even if offered. Even so, TJ Faiane felt like the real captain of that St Kents team.
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@dice Yep I don't think the Blues 10s helped Pulu - i'd like to see the Pulu/Perofeta combo be given a serious go. They looked really promising vs B&I Lions.
If the Blues have a similar plan to this past season I imagine quite a few of these extra players will be taken to the Brisbane 10s alongside Carlos for a run.
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@kiwimurph well if 'los goes well in the 10's...
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Good to see Afeaki as scrum coach too. From memory Harbour's scrum was good in Mitre 10 Cup. Blues badly needed to address their scrum for years (especially when replacements came on).
I imagine he had some input in not selecting Prattley either - that's a good sign in itself.
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@wurzel said in Blues 2018:
Pulu strikes me as someone with a bit of a discipline problem, and often seems to have bad rapport with refs. Would be well down my list of potential captains.
You could have said the same about Dane Coles before Canes made him captain
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@kiwimurph Good to see Afeaki has a business and I hope he got a decent insurance payout. He probably would have been a regular fixture in black by now if not for concussion.
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@wurzel said in Blues 2018:
Pulu strikes me as someone with a bit of a discipline problem, and often seems to have bad rapport with refs. Would be well down my list of potential captains.
Can't say I've ever noticed this, apart from the odd high shot. Care to point out some examples?
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@dice said in Blues 2018:
I think if Pulu reigns in the errors, he'll be fine. His error rate was not near as high at the Chiefs as it was with the Blues this year.
Pulu didn't play as many minutes for the Chiefs as he does for the Blues. I like Pulu as a player but in the big games TKB always started with Pulu being the finisher. Against tired players he could be sensational.
