BLUES BOLSTERED WITH RETURNING PLAYERS FOR DOUBLE-HEADER CLASH
The Blues welcome back a host of players from injury for their home clash against the Hurricanes in Super Rugby Pacific on Saturday.
The match forms part of a double-header at Eden Park, with the finals-bound nib Blues chasing home ground advantage for the Aupiki final, when they meet with Hurricanes Poua in the last regular-season clash.
After the much-needed bye, the Blues men will focus on the second half of their Super Rugby Pacific season.
The team hope key players, including All Blacks Beauden Barrett and captain Patrick Tuipulotu among others, will come through their return to heavy contact training to enable them to start in Saturday’s encounter.
“The group is putting in the hard work to produce a quality performance. Hopefully they will come through a big week of effort on the training field, and the team can focus on getting our processes right for a positive performance,” said coach Vern Cotter.
“Of course we are aware of our position on the table, but our focus is on our performance.”
The returning players, including Kurt Eklund, Ricky Riccitelli, AJ Lam, Anton Segner and Adrian Choat, with others to follow in the coming weeks, will allow for a better rotation of squad depth in the second half of the season.
The Blues have, however, lost seasoned prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi, who will undergo neck surgery with the full rehab process to rule him out for the rest of the season.
The Blues team is (Blues caps in brackets): 1. Joshua Fusitu’a (27), 2. Kurt Eklund (65), 3. Marcel Renata (59), 4. Patrick Tuipulotu© (114), 5. Josh Beehre (17), 6. Anton Segner (28), 7. Dalton Papali’i (88), 8. Hoskins Sotutu (69), 9. Finlay Christie (60), 10. Beauden Barrett (34), 11. Caleb Clarke (69), 12. AJ Lam (48), 13. Rieko Ioane (118), 14. Mark Tele’a (73), 15. Corey Evans (19).
Reserves: 16. Ricky Riccitelli (42); 17. Mason Tupaea (1); 18: Angus Ta’avao (72); 19. Cameron Suafoa (29), 20. Adrian Choat (47), 21. Sam Nock (77), 22. Xavi Taele (2), Stephen Perofeta (70).
Players not considered with injury: Zarn Sullivan (foot), Taufa Funaki (shoulder), Reon Paul (shoulder), Ofa Tu’ungafasi (neck, season), Sam Darry (shoulder, season)
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