PAPALII JOINS ALL BLACKS TO EXTEND CONTRACT AT THE BLUES

Blues and All Black loose forward, Dalton Papalii has announced he will extend his time at the club to at least 2024.

The 24-year-old enjoyed an outstanding 2022 season, leading the Blues to a 15-2 season, where they set new mark for wins, points scored and tries scored in a season.

Papalii said he is excited to have signed for the club until 2024, and looking forward to the future.

“There is nowhere else in this competition that I am going to play. I am a Blues player by birth, by school and by my heart. This year was a massive jump forward. We missed the last step which is gutting, but we have just started this journey and there’s so much more to come.

“And I want to be part of that legacy to this club and this region.”

Blues head coach Leon MacDonald said the organisation was thrilled to have Papalii re-commit to the club.

“Dalton epitomises who we are as players and as people. He is still a very young man, yet he led this team and they love him to bits.

“On the field he is developing into one of the world’s best loose forwards.

“Off it, he does so much in the community, not just with the Blues but with his own programme supporting mental health initiatives.”

Papalii, who won a second U20 World Cup title in 2017, was called into the Blues the next season, making his debut against the Chiefs in April. His mercurial rise continued when later that year he made his All Black debut against Japan at the age of 21 years 23 days.

The 1.93m, 112kg loose forward has played 12 tests, with eight coming in 2021.

Papalii has already played 56 games for the Blues, the second youngest player to reach 50 games, behind Rieko Ioane.