Blues 2017

Daffy Jaffy

@KiwiMurph I would guess Mat Mattich may be brought in. He must have been close to Taramai's spot in the squad as he was excellent for Northland this year (though often at number eight). He trained with the squad last season and played pre season I think.

Tim

Olympic coach joins the Blues

09 Nov 2016

The Blues welcome Olympic weightlifting coach Dr. Adam Storey to the team as the new Sports Science Manager and Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach under Jason Price.

Adam has a Doctorate in Sport and Exercise Science and Physiology from Auckland University and he is currently a Research Fellow at AUT University’s Sports Performance Research Institute. Since 2008, Adam has coached New Zealand weightlifting teams at key pinnacle events including the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.

Prior to coming on board with the Blues, Adam worked for High Performance Sport New Zealand as the Lead Strength and Conditioning Specialist for Athletics NZ. In this role he worked closely with Valerie Adams and supervised her strength and conditioning work in her come back from surgery over the past two years.

Adam is Hamilton-born and had some involvement with the Chiefs but also moved to Wellington where he lived for some years which lead to him naming his first born son after his favourite All Black Christian Cullen.

He has always wanted to work fulltime in the professional sporting environment for the Blues.

“Like all Kiwis I love rugby. But as a professional in the strength and conditioning field, I have always wanted to work fulltime in the rugby environment and for a professional sport.”

“I am really excited to have the opportunity to work with the Blues. The facilities, the staff and the approach here is fantastic and I am looking forward to working with the players when they begin officially next month.”

Tim

Injured Blues back on deck

16 Nov 2016

The Blues will welcome back their long-term injured players ready for the start of the 2017 Investec Super Rugby season.

Former New Zealand Under-20 star TJ Faiane and fan favourite Rene Ranger are progressing well in their rehabilitation. Both suffered season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injuries earlier this year and both have faced long term rehabilitation – Faiane for 13 months and Ranger for 11 months.

“Both have done a great job in terms of rehabilitation following their surgeries,” said Blues medical director, Dr Stephen Kara. “These sorts of injuries require real patience and discipline and both guys have coped well with the situation and the mental challenges to do things by the book.”

Rehabilitation is a long-term planned activity beginning after recovery from surgery, based on each individual case.

The first phase involves gentle activation of muscles and low-risk cardio work, which increases in phase 2 to include more fitness on the bike and grinder, and neuromuscular training on wobble board and rocker board.

From weeks 7-12 allows for some straight-line running and phase 4 up to 16 weeks includes goals of straight running without pain and jumping without difficulty.

The progression for the next 10 weeks involves aggressive strengthening work with squats and leg press and step ups, agility drills, plyometrics with hopping and jumping and sport-specific interval and other training work which is the final phase until return to play – no earlier than seven months after recovery from surgery.

Both players are expected to play a full part in the Blues pre-season plans which get underway in early December.

New signing Sonny Bill Williams, who suffered an Achilles tendon rupture at the Rio Olympics, is also progressing well in his rehabilitation and is expected to return at some stage later in the Blues’ open eight-game block until their first bye.

Captain James Parsons is due to return for the start of pre-season after more than two months out with acute concussion.

George Moala has returned home from the All Blacks Northern Tour with an elbow ligament injury but Dr Kara believes he should also be ready early in the pre-season training block.

A number of players have minor injuries suffered during the Mitre-10 Cup competition but all are expected to be ready for the start of pre-season training. These include Michael Collins (hand injury), Piers Francis (hand), Blake Gibson (shoulder), Josh Goodhue (ankle), Sam Nock (hand), Declan O’Donnell (wrist) and Jimmy Tupou (face).

The other members of the All Blacks will make gradual returns to the Blues with the likes of Jerome Kaino, Patrick Tuipulotu and Charlie Faumuina the last to come back to the squad before the start of the season.

pakman

Forwards could do with sessions with Kevvie's Scrum Factory.

Tim

Harry Plummer is recovering from a shoulder operation, and is aiming for NZ U20 in 2018.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11753558

Tim

It's looking like all the Blues will be fully available from the start, except SBW and Parsons (~ round 5 return), established All Blacks Kaino and Faumuina ("gradual return"), and possibly Tuipulotu.

So, what's the early season starting XXIII going to look like?

We know that Francis is favoured for 12, so that leaves the back three, hooker, locking combination (Tupou/Scrafton has been hinted at), and openside flanker as points of contention.

I'll go with this prediction:

15. Nanai
14. Duffie (10s captain, would prefer M. Vaega)
13. Moala
12. Francis
11. R. Ioane
10. West
  9. A. Pulu
  8. Luatua
  7. Gibson (K. Pryor plenty of time off the bench)
  6. A. Ioane
  5. Scrafton
  4. Tupou (C)
  3. O. Tu’ungafasi
  2. Moulds/Faiva (no idea who will start)
  1. Manu 

16. Hodgman
17. Faiva/Moulds
18. Mafileo (early return from the bench for Faumuina?)
19. Cowley-Tuioti/Tuipulotu (returning from the bench?)
20. K. Pryor
21. Guyton (would love to see Nock overtake him)
22. Perofeta (covers 10 & 15)
23. M. Vaega (covers midfield & wing)

taniwharugby

Probably put Ranger at 14?

Tim

I think that later in the season we'll see:

15. Nanai
14. Duffie/Vaega/Collins
13. Moala
12. SBW
11. R. Ioane
10. West
  9. A. Pulu
  8. Luatua
  7. Gibson 
  6. Kaino/A. Ioane (sharing starts)
  5. Scrafton
  4. Tuipulotu
  3. Faumuina
  2. Parsons
  1. Manu 

16. Hodgman
17. Faiva/Moulds
18. O. Tu’ungafasi
19. Tupou/A. Iaone 
20. K. Pryor/A. Iaone/Kaino
21. Guyton 
22. Francis/Perofeta
23. M. Vaega/Duffie/Collins

Tim

@taniwharugby Shoot, I forgot about him.

I suspect that the coaches might go for a "2nd fullback" type wing.

Stargazer

Has Rieko played at 11 before? Somehow, I see him more as a right wing than a left wing (if not in the midfield), but that's just because I remember him playing there and not on the left..

Tim

@Stargazer Both Ioane and Duffie play on the right wing, so I'm not sure how they're going to balance that out.

gt12

I'd put Ranger at 11, and have Rieko at 14 in my top Blues team. Some time for Rieko at 13 wouldn't be out of place either.

There are plenty of options there, if people stay fit, and Pulu passes it.

I'm still not convinced about West - I thought he would turn the corner last year, but we're still waiting. He plays well, they don't suffer injuries, and that Blues team should be good. If he's shit, it won't matter about how talent he has around him.

gt12

@Tim

Shirley, Duffie gets booted?

taniwharugby

@Tim be interesting to see where Tana goes at 7, cos Pryor was very good last year when Gibson was injured and the last couple of games Gibson came off the bench with Pryor starting.

Any news on Tom Robinsons injury from the 10s? I know he was unlikely to get any time for the Blues, just interested to see.

Tim

@gt12 said in Blues 2017:

@Tim

Shirley, Duffie gets booted?

Umaga seems to be keen on him, and he improved quite a lot with Harbour, so perhaps not.

I'm not sure how Ranger fits into a back three without a Ben Smith type player.

Tim

@taniwharugby Certainly going to be an interesting battle for 7.

IIRC, Gibson re-injured his hand early in the NPC season, so perhaps he wasn't at 100%?

gt12

@Tim

Duffie is pretty good in the air, but he was five shades of shit in Super rugby last year, at least from my drunken recollections I admit that I didn't see any Mitre 10 cup, so can't comment, but I'd have got rid of him from the team if I were picking players and had the option.

Would it be a skillset that Rieko could/should develop? From memory, he didn't seem terrible for the ABs, but again, I may have been boozed.

Otherwise, Ranger is pretty useful as a bench option?

I still think he potentially brings plenty, although he was pretty shit for a while there too, before he got injured. As @ACT-Crusader said, he's very Umaga-esque on D at 13, but was looking lost on attack.

Tim

@gt12 I'm not a Duffie fan, and would prefer Vaega (and maybe Collins), but he does seem to be popular with the coach.

Tim

I'd actually be really interested to see how West goes at fullback. Could be pretty dangerous with a bit of extra space/time.

KiwiMurph

Duffie was rubbish early on last year - however he improved a great deal, particularly after the bye - he put in some quality performances - and was outstanding in Mitre 10 Cup - he will start at wing or fullback id say interchanging with Nanai.

I think the 10-12-13 axis is going to be key for the Blues - West-Moala-Ranger failed miserably there last year - West-Francis 10-12 was much better.

Id say Nanai and Duffie are locked in for the back 3 for the start of the season with the other winger spot going to Rieko or another if Rieko is at 13.

Personally id go with Rieko at 13 and play Moala/Ranger on the wing but I suspect theyll play Rieko on the wing early and play Moala at 13. Hopefully Ranger is seen as a winger not a 13.

It will be interesting to see Blues lineup on Friday for the last trial - fingers crossed for no injuries.

To me with West he only looks good at 10 if you play a 2nd playmaker at 12 - so Francis.

Id like to see Perofeta off the bench at fullback offering another playmaking option during the season.

The Silver Fern

Blues 2017