Blues 2017
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Yeah Milo-Harris is the one they seem to be bringing through
The NPC side last year only had Hickey and Fukofuka. Where is Jono Hickey, did he leave?
It's interesting that the Blues region seems to be exporting halfbacks to the Crusaders at the moment, Hall & Fukofuka and they came close to signing Hickey (for some reason??) a couple of seasons back
As for Judd getting a run. Geography helps, he's a nearby uncontracted player who has some NPC experience.
There aren't many quality halfbacks around and 15 get SR contracts. To be honest after the top 5-6 the quality drop is massive. -
What do we make of this talk that Otere Black could be the answer to the Blues' No 10 problems?
Interesting. And logical. Black's path is clearly blocked at the Canes, so if he's serious about taking the step up a move would be in his best interests. And the Blues present as the obvious destination.
But I'm reliably informed the Blues see Stephen Perofeta as their long-term solution in the No 10 position. Or as he's been tagged at the Auckland franchise, Stephen Pero-future.
So whether Tana Umaga is prepared to offer Black the inducement he needs to come north may depend on what they see from their little project from the Taranaki this season. Watch this space.
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- Richard Judd, Blues
Judd is a good player for CM but I can only assume this is to keep him in the game in case injuries strike the Blues. As a 'development' thing though, he is hardly long term and surely there are some young 9s in the area that need developing?
People concentrate on the paucity of Auckland produced 10s but the situation with 9s is just as bad. Look at some of the journeymen and ring ins the Blues have had in recent years@Crucial said in Blues 2017:
- Richard Judd, Blues
Judd is a good player for CM but I can only assume this is to keep him in the game in case injuries strike the Blues
That's exactly why he's been brought in. In the link, it says he's been brought in as injury cover(Nock is out injured).
@Crucial said in Blues 2017:
People concentrate on the paucity of Auckland produced 10s but the situation with 9s is just as bad. Look at some of the journeymen and ring ins the Blues have had in recent years
Kahn Fotuali'i is the best halfback Auckland has produced in recent times, but unfortunately, he didn't get to play for us. I would've loved to have seen a prime Kahn play for Auckland and the Blues.
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An interesting read on the old talking point
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@rugby/2017/03/31/17503/how-not-to-become-the-blues-franchise-player
The Blues’ struggle to land a franchise playmaker
Looking back now, Daniel Bowden realises he could have – and probably should have – been the guy.
As captain of the prestigious Auckland Grammar First XV and a New Zealand Schools representative, Bowden’s path from childhood prodigy to professional player could have been fairly straight forward. Auckland rugby was waiting, arms wide, ready to nurture a prime local talent. In a few short years, the gifted teenager would become what every professional rugby outfit covets – a franchise first five-eighths; the type of player around whom a team can be built.
But Bowden had other ideas. Plugging away as an understudy didn’t hold much appeal. And those few short years – they didn’t seem all that short to him. He wanted it all, and wanted it now.
“What I should have done is just stayed and did my time,” Bowden, who turns 31 on April 1, says just a touch ruefully.
“I was probably the first one that started this trend of being impatient. But I was a kid.”
That kid decided that playing for Northland in the NPC beat toiling away in development games and sitting on the bench for Auckland. Northland would play him and pay him. So he left, taking the first steps on a road that led inexorably away from Eden Park.
His name may be on an extensive list of talented players to slip through the Blues’ grasp but – in many of those cases – it is not fair to blame an organisation regularly derided for its failure to produce a playmaker befitting Auckland rugby’s once momentous stature.
“It always gets lumped on the team’s shoulders,” laments Bowden.
With the Blues a veritable Piñata of rugby angst, a case in point is never far away.
“The Blues will be on the lookout for yet another first five next season”, the New Zealand Herald reported on March 21 when it was announced that Englishman Piers Francis would return home next season.
It’s only three letters, but it is the "yet" in that sentence that will have stung the Blues’ administration. With Francis having turned in a highly promising display just four days earlier against the Crusaders in Christchurch, the timing of the announcement amplified what is already an over-stated case.
“Every headline says ‘Auckland churns through another 10. Other franchises struggle in that position but no one really says anything,” says Bowden.
Judged by the standards of a glorious past - and perceived to enjoy the advantage of being located in New Zealand’s major population centre - the Blues are the modern game's great underachievers. However, the level of stick the franchise cops for failing to unearth a Carlos Spencer-type player to lead them back to the promised land is unfair.
Often – as is likely the case the with Francis – it is the player who calls the shots. That’s certainly the way it was with Bowden.
After a couple of seasons with Northland he was ready for Super Rugby. The Blues were interested, however Bowden didn’t much fancy standing in line behind the likes of Tasesa Lavea, Luke McAlister, Isa Nacewa and David Holwell.
“I thought I was ready,” he says.
His prospects of getting some decent game time were much better at the Highlanders and, above all, Bowden wanted to play.
In 2008 there was no such thing as franchise contracting, so playing for the Highlanders meant signing for Otago. With the stroke of a pen, one of the Auckland region’s most promising young five-eighths was gone.
“I wouldn’t say it was a bad move. I consider my career a relative success. But I wanted it then and there and the only opportunity for me to do that was at the Highlanders.”
After stints at the Highlanders, Crusaders, London Irish and Leicester, Bowden would eventually find himself in a Blues shirt. But by 2015 he was nearer the end of his career than the beginning, and his decision to join the Blues had more to do with having one last crack at making a World Cup squad than any great desire to play for what was once his home town team.
For the Blues, Bowden was only ever going to be a temporary measure – and even that was cut short by injury.
After an unsuccessful spell at Bath last year, when injuries limited him to just two appearances, Bowden has returned home. A free agent, he plans to return to the field after giving his body its first decent rest in over a decade. For now, he’s juggling a young family and dabbling as a rugby pundit for SKY TV, keeping a keen eye on the Blues.
The team’s lack of success can be attributed to plenty more than simply failing to find a dominant first-five, but it does remain a major issue – and a priority for coach Tana Umaga.
The franchise has stockpiled young talent since Umaga took the coaching reigns from John Kirwan, recruiting promising Taranaki first-five Stephen Perofeta and signing local products Harry Plummer (St Peters College) and Wiseguy Faiane (Auckland Grammar) to development deals.
None of that trio will be ready for Super Rugby any time soon, but any one of them could become the player the Blues have been pining for. For that to happen, both parties will have to exercise patience.
“It is going to take a little bit of time but the rewards will come,” says Bowden.
Just as the Blues’ young recruits must exercise patience, so too must the club hold its nerve through what can be a painful development process. The franchise has been guilty of judging prospects too harshly too early.
Gareth Anscombe makes a break for Wales during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Quarter Final at Twickenham. Picture: Getty Images
Rejected by the Blues, Gareth Anscombe went on to win two Super Rugby titles with the Chiefs and play international rugby for Wales. The likes of Chris Noakes and more recently Simon Hickey were also jettisoned very early considering their ages and potential to develop.“To be told you are not quite good enough at 22 and head overseas, that’s pretty young.”
Bowden points to the success the Highlanders have had persevering with Lima Sopoaga despite his uneven introduction to Super Rugby as a gifted but erratic 21-year-old in 2011.
“They persisted with him for two or three seasons when he was playing some average footy because they knew he was good enough. By his third season of Super Rugby he finally found his feet.”
By his fifth season, Sopoaga was guiding the Highlanders to the Super Rugby title.
The Highlanders, though, weren’t dealing with the same level of expectation and desperation as the success-starved Blues. After three years of a slow build to nowhere under Kirwan, patience is understandably thin on the ground at Eden Park.
But with previous quick-fixes such as attempting to convert Benji Marshall in to a first-five, and bolstering the backline elsewhere with the likes of Piri Weepu and Ma’a Nonu, having failed spectacularly, it would seem the Blues have little option but to hunker down and wait for their talent to blossom. And hope like heck the talent decides to wait along with them.
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A couple of changes to that Blues A side.
Faiva and Pryor are not playing. Not sure if the players are injured or needed for the main side
Have the Hurricanes announced their A side?
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Namatahi Waa, Blues
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Hame Faiva, BluesJoe Royal -
Marcel Renata, Auckland
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Josh Goodhue (c), Blues
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Brandon Nansen, Blues
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Dalton Papalii, AucklandGlen Preston -
Kara Pryor, BluesDalton Papalii -
Hapakuki Moala-Liava’a, North Harbour
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Richard Judd, Blues
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Bryn Gatland, North Harbour
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Caleb Clarke, Auckland
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Matt Vaega, Blues
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Rene Ranger, Blues
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Jordan Hyland, Northland
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Jordan Trainor, Blues
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JP Sauni, Auckland
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Emerson Tamura-Paki, Auckland
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Afi Ielemia, Auckland
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Glen Preston, North Harbour
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Connor Collett, North Harbour
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Lisati Milo-Harris, Auckland
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D’Angelo Leuila, Auckland
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Tamati Tua, Auckland
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Salesi Rayasi, Auckland
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Epineri (Ratu) Uluiviti, Northland
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What do we make of this talk that Otere Black could be the answer to the Blues' No 10 problems?
Interesting. And logical. Black's path is clearly blocked at the Canes, so if he's serious about taking the step up a move would be in his best interests. And the Blues present as the obvious destination.
But I'm reliably informed the Blues see Stephen Perofeta as their long-term solution in the No 10 position. Or as he's been tagged at the Auckland franchise, Stephen Pero-future.
So whether Tana Umaga is prepared to offer Black the inducement he needs to come north may depend on what they see from their little project from the Taranaki this season. Watch this space.
Stuff reckons:
However, the level of stick the franchise cops for failing to unearth a Carlos Spencer-type player to lead them back to the promised land is unfair.As if the Blues/Auckland unearthed Carlos!
He'd played two years at provincial footy at Horowhenua before being lured up North. He wasn't some hidden gem unearthed by clever scouting -- he'd long shown his class.
The Blues' problem isn't unearthing talented 1st 5s. It's winning enough games that good 1st-fives want to play for them.
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Stuff reckons:
However, the level of stick the franchise cops for failing to unearth a Carlos Spencer-type player to lead them back to the promised land is unfair.As if the Blues/Auckland unearthed Carlos!
He'd played two years at provincial footy at Horowhenua before being lured up North. He wasn't some hidden gem unearthed by clever scouting -- he'd long shown his class.
The Blues' problem isn't unearthing talented 1st 5s. It's winning enough games that good 1st-fives want to play for them.
@Chester-Draws It's a catch 22 - with it tough to win games with mediocre 10s.
At least Umaga has a plan with talented youngsters in the pipeline - that's the way to do it.
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Half time 21-19
Quality of both sides play much better in the 2nd quarter
Vaega looks dangerous and Gatland continues to improve
