Blues 2024

[Daffy Jaffy]

From Suntory's website -

CROSS-BORDER RUGBY 2024 vs BLUES(NZ)

Starting 15:

1
MORIKAWA YUKIO
2
GO KIENORI
3
BRADLEY KUHN
4
SIONE LAVEMAI
5
HARRY HOCKINGS
6
SAM JEFFRIES
7
OKETANI SOTA
8
TAMATI IOANE
9
SAITO NAOTO
10
NICOLAS SANCHEZ
11
EMI SHOTA
12
NAKANO SHOGO
13
OZAKI TAIGA
14
NIGUMA HIDETO
15
MATSUSHIMA KOTARO

Reserves:

16
MIYAZAKI TATSUYA
17
KOBAYASHI KENTA
18
OGA SOSHI
19
TSUJI TAKAYASU
20
SHIMOKAWA KANJI
21
NAGARE YUTAKA
22
TAKAMOTO MIKIYA
23
MORIYA KEISUKE
24
IINO KOJI
25
TREVOR HOSEA
26
HASHIMOTO RYUGA
27
ISAIAH PUNIVAI
28
KAWASE RYOSUKE

[Duluth]

'What the heck is going on?’: How Ireland's style helped young Taranaki centre to a Blues contract

Meihana Grindley thrived with his hard running, regular offloads, and solid tackling earning him a Super Rugby contract with the Blues.

[Chris]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350168322/blues-dealt-patrick-tuipulotu-injury-blow

Broken Jaw

[Daffy Jaffy]

@Chris Sad for Patty. They say 8 to10 weeks. So likely back for round 7 or 9 (8 is a bye).

[SouthernMann]

Step up caretaker Dalton

[KiwiMurph]

Pretty injury prone is Patty

[Duluth]

@Daffy-Jaffy said in Blues 2024:

Sad for Patty. They say 8 to10 weeks. So likely back for round 7 or 9 (8 is a bye).

Yeah, rounds 6 & 7 are Pasfika & the Force. So there's no need to rush him back before the bye

[george33]

Let's wait and see about time frame I'm picking round 4/5

[Yeetyaah]

@george33 maths is hard I guess

[george33]

@Yeetyaah it's who U no my friend

[Daffy Jaffy]

The boys suggesting that the All Blacks that are on tour may not actually play this next game, that they are there to train on with the team after just recently returning from their break.

[Duluth]

I skimmed through that.

Angus talking about his injury was interesting. No feeling from the neck down for ~1 min. Didn’t want to play again initially. His spinal cord was already pinched before the injury that made it more likely. Post operation it’s safer than it was before the injury

Apparently Akira gives Angus shit about being a club ___ ( slut, whore?), says he’s a one club man

[SBW1]

[Tim]

Starting locks while Tuipulotu is out? Darry seems locked in, so Beehre, McWhannell, or Suafoa to partner him?

Starting tight five is probably easy to pick aside from that:

1 Tu'ungufasi
2 Riccitelli
3 Ta'avao
4 Darry
5 ?

[Duluth]

@Tim

Hard to guess with new coaches. So far Suafoa hasn’t been used at lock.. Thompson has been used as a lock and a loosie

I’m guessing Darry won’t play the Chiefs preseason match after having plenty of minutes already

Suafoa probably needs to start at lock in that one to be a chance

[African Monkey]

@Tim I think Lay will start at LH with Tu'ungafasi off the bench to dtart off with.

[Daffy Jaffy]

Shades of the Red Conway Story - may explain a few of his ball handling issues over the seasons -

[Daffy Jaffy]

[African Monkey]

@george33 Looks like you were bang on, well played sir.

[Duluth]

Super Rugby, Sport, Rugby

Blues captain's positive news on jaw injury

Tuipulotu was injured due to some friendly fire in a pre-season clash.

Patrick Tuipulotu has avoided surgery on his fractured jaw, with the Blues captain expecting to be back on the field in April after a period of rest and recovery.

While out of action and limited to light activities for the time being, Tuipulotu said it would be a bit of a struggle to maintain his weight during his time off. He said in the 10 days since he suffered the injury he has already lost 2kg and had been told he could have full-fat milk and a few more protein shakes before bed in a bid to limit the weight he would shed.