Blues boosted by All Black duo’s return

David Skippers

All Black loose forwards Dalton Papalii and Akira Ioane return to the Blues starting line-up for Saturday’s Super Rugby Aotearoa clash with the Chiefs in Hamilton.

They are the only changes from the team that beat the Hurricanes 30-20 in the first-round clash at Eden Park.

Papalii, who came off the bench last week, starts on the openside flank while Ioane, with 68 Blues appearances to his credit, comes in on the blindside replacing Blake Gibson and Tom Robinson respectively, who are both unavailable due to injury.

The Blues have the same front five but are bolstered with the return of North Harbour’s Sione Mafileo, one of the standouts earlier in the season, who will make his 50th appearance off the bench.

The trio of in-form Hoskins Sotutu, Papalii and Ioane will form a potent trio in what should be a pivotal battle at the breakdown.

The backline remains unchanged with Otere Black, who celebrated his blazer game for the Blues in the win over the Hurricanes, remains at fly-half with Beauden Barrett again starting at full-back, to form an exciting back four with Rieko Ioane at centre and wings Caleb Clarke and Mark Telea.

Blues coach Leon MacDonald said that while a several other players have pushed their claims for selection at training the efforts last week warranted their retention.

“We know that last week was a good start but that we will need to get better if we want a positive result against the Chiefs,” he said.

“The players who took the field will be better for that experience, especially understanding the importance of discipline at the breakdown and getting back into competition after so long off.

“We know that depth will be really important in this competition and we are fortunate to have the likes of Dalton and Akira to come into the starting line-up. Parts of our play were good last week but we must lift to another level against what we know is a very good and very physical Chiefs side as well as a healthy rivalry with our neighbours.”

Blues: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Mark Telea, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Otere Black, 9 Sam Nock, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Dalton Papalii, 6 Akira Ioane, 5 Josh Goodhue, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu (c), 3 Ofa Tuungafasi, 2 James Parsons, 1 Alex Hodgman
Replacements: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Marcel Renata, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti, 20 Tony Lamborn, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Harry Plummer, 23 Matt Duffie

Date: Saturday, June 20
Venue: FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton
Kick-off: 19:05 (08:05 BST, 07:05 GMT)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
Assistant referees: Mike Fraser, Paul Williams
TMO: James Doleman

 

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