Blues 2020
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Sotutu has signed a 2 year extension at the Blues - 2021 and 2022 season locked in
https://blues.rugby/fast-developing-sotutu-to-extend-time-with-the-blues/
FAST-DEVELOPING SOTUTU TO EXTEND TIME WITH THE BLUES 06 JUL 2020 Fast-developing loose forward Hoskins Sotutu will remain at the Blues until at least 2022. The 21-year-old Sotutu has added a further two years to his initial contract after joining the Blues in 2019, having come through the organisation’s development programme, playing for Auckland and New Zealand Under-20s. He has been a standout in Investec Super Rugby this year with nearly 500m in carries, an average of around 50m per game, and is currently fourth highest in this part of the game in the Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa statistics. He averages over eight tackles per game and is currently top of the tackle count in Super Rugby Aotearoa with 38 in three games. Blues coach Leon MacDonald said Sotutu has been one of the team stand-outs so far this season. “He has a unique skillset which is well-rounded. He has set-up tries with his kicking and with accurate missed passes yet he can do the core roles of carrying hard, offloading, making his tackles and an asset in the lineout,” said MacDonald. “Hoskins got his chance with the work he did pre-season and has continued to deliver game-in, game-out, and he is developing from a very quiet teenager to a real contributor off the field also. “He has come out of the Blues and Auckland systems and if he continues to develop with the same attitude, he can look forward to a long and successful career with us.” MacDonald said Sotutu had initially indicated his desire to re-sign earlier but the Covid-19 lockdown had stalled the formalities. Sotutu played several sports as a young teenager before taking the advice of his father, former Fiji, Blues and Auckland back Waisake Sotutu, to “give rugby a good shot” when he was 17, playing two years for the Sacred Heart College 1st XV. He began his rugby life as a winger, like his father, moving to lock, and even first-five for club in his first year out of school, before settling at No 8. “I have signed for two more years with the Blues which is great,” said Sotutu. “My goals are for the Blues to kick-on in this competition how we left off before Covid-19, keep the team strong and help them continue to improve. “It is all about the team for me. I don’t like to look too far ahead. I like to focus on the team I am playing for.” The Blues expect to finalise other contract extensions before the end of the competiti@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2020:
Sotutu has signed a 2 year extension at the Blues - 2021 and 2022 season locked in
https://blues.rugby/fast-developing-sotutu-to-extend-time-with-the-blues/
FAST-DEVELOPING SOTUTU TO EXTEND TIME WITH THE BLUES 06 JUL 2020 Fast-developing loose forward Hoskins Sotutu will remain at the Blues until at least 2022. The 21-year-old Sotutu has added a further two years to his initial contract after joining the Blues in 2019, having come through the organisation’s development programme, playing for Auckland and New Zealand Under-20s. He has been a standout in Investec Super Rugby this year with nearly 500m in carries, an average of around 50m per game, and is currently fourth highest in this part of the game in the Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa statistics. He averages over eight tackles per game and is currently top of the tackle count in Super Rugby Aotearoa with 38 in three games. Blues coach Leon MacDonald said Sotutu has been one of the team stand-outs so far this season. “He has a unique skillset which is well-rounded. He has set-up tries with his kicking and with accurate missed passes yet he can do the core roles of carrying hard, offloading, making his tackles and an asset in the lineout,” said MacDonald. “Hoskins got his chance with the work he did pre-season and has continued to deliver game-in, game-out, and he is developing from a very quiet teenager to a real contributor off the field also. “He has come out of the Blues and Auckland systems and if he continues to develop with the same attitude, he can look forward to a long and successful career with us.” MacDonald said Sotutu had initially indicated his desire to re-sign earlier but the Covid-19 lockdown had stalled the formalities. Sotutu played several sports as a young teenager before taking the advice of his father, former Fiji, Blues and Auckland back Waisake Sotutu, to “give rugby a good shot” when he was 17, playing two years for the Sacred Heart College 1st XV. He began his rugby life as a winger, like his father, moving to lock, and even first-five for club in his first year out of school, before settling at No 8. “I have signed for two more years with the Blues which is great,” said Sotutu. “My goals are for the Blues to kick-on in this competition how we left off before Covid-19, keep the team strong and help them continue to improve. “It is all about the team for me. I don’t like to look too far ahead. I like to focus on the team I am playing for.” The Blues expect to finalise other contract extensions before the end of the competitiHard luck, Eddie.
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Yeah look at all those really young players signing for a whole two years. Come on...four or five years eh! Never fails.
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@Bones said in Blues 2020:
Yeah look at all those really young players signing for a whole two years. Come on...four or five years eh! Never fails.
Two years to make the abs,, otherwise overseas cash beckons, that's why they do it
@Machpants said in Blues 2020:
@Bones said in Blues 2020:
Yeah look at all those really young players signing for a whole two years. Come on...four or five years eh! Never fails.
Two years to make the abs,, otherwise overseas cash beckons, that's why they do it
Thanks, I'm new to rugby
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Yeah look at all those really young players signing for a whole two years. Come on...four or five years eh! Never fails.
@Bones said in Blues 2020:
Yeah look at all those really young players signing for a whole two years. Come on...four or five years eh! Never fails.
remember where we're coming from. early last year or the year before, there'd be noise about shifting franchises, players would wonder if they should commit to the Blues. Now it's 'only two year's?
I'll take it.
What we're doing more than anything is building a team people can have confidence signing for and playing in. Combine with talent scouting, and suddenly you've got a viable long term franchise that can start succeeding. I'm a broken record on this, but I am really delighted for this organisation. They have been so bad for so long, that the people turning it around must be stoked, and I'm proud of what they are doing.
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@Bones said in Blues 2020:
Yeah look at all those really young players signing for a whole two years. Come on...four or five years eh! Never fails.
remember where we're coming from. early last year or the year before, there'd be noise about shifting franchises, players would wonder if they should commit to the Blues. Now it's 'only two year's?
I'll take it.
What we're doing more than anything is building a team people can have confidence signing for and playing in. Combine with talent scouting, and suddenly you've got a viable long term franchise that can start succeeding. I'm a broken record on this, but I am really delighted for this organisation. They have been so bad for so long, that the people turning it around must be stoked, and I'm proud of what they are doing.
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@Bones said in Blues 2020:
@nzzp yeah I may have been being fec...fac...face..faci...joking.
well, when Hooper gets 5 year deals, ya never know...
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@Bones said in Blues 2020:
Yeah look at all those really young players signing for a whole two years. Come on...four or five years eh! Never fails.
remember where we're coming from. early last year or the year before, there'd be noise about shifting franchises, players would wonder if they should commit to the Blues. Now it's 'only two year's?
I'll take it.
What we're doing more than anything is building a team people can have confidence signing for and playing in. Combine with talent scouting, and suddenly you've got a viable long term franchise that can start succeeding. I'm a broken record on this, but I am really delighted for this organisation. They have been so bad for so long, that the people turning it around must be stoked, and I'm proud of what they are doing.
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@nzzp Was good to read about what's going on inside the team yesterday.
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A very interesting read on Akira
https://tiponrugby.substack.com/p/centre-of-attention
His workload over 2018 and 2019 included 80-minute performances in 28 of his team’s 32 games, and between 2016 and 2019 he bore the highest workload in attack of any of the players charted above: he contributed 9.4% of his team’s carries during this period, while also beating defenders the most regularly and making more metres per carry than everyone except Ardie Savea and Dalton Papali’i. (Ioane averaged 2.1 more carries per 80 minutes than Savea over this period, and 6.3 more than Papali’i.) This data cannot prove or disprove that Ioane met the standards that the All Blacks selectors were asking him to meet, but it does provide evidence to contradict the assertion that only now is he providing an acceptable level of on-field performance. It is also notable that a number of positive public comments from those selectors and his Blues coaches over the last few years have been largely ignored in the framing of his story. Grant Fox’s acknowledgement prior to the 2018 end-of-year tour that Ioane was “getting better at the areas he's been asked to improve at” was published under a headline suggesting that his “star [was] on the wane”, and Leon MacDonald’s comments at the beginning of this season that Ioane had “trained really well, [and] is fit and hungry” did nothing to stop his non-selection for the opening rounds of Super Rugby being painted in the same light. -
A very interesting read on Akira
https://tiponrugby.substack.com/p/centre-of-attention
His workload over 2018 and 2019 included 80-minute performances in 28 of his team’s 32 games, and between 2016 and 2019 he bore the highest workload in attack of any of the players charted above: he contributed 9.4% of his team’s carries during this period, while also beating defenders the most regularly and making more metres per carry than everyone except Ardie Savea and Dalton Papali’i. (Ioane averaged 2.1 more carries per 80 minutes than Savea over this period, and 6.3 more than Papali’i.) This data cannot prove or disprove that Ioane met the standards that the All Blacks selectors were asking him to meet, but it does provide evidence to contradict the assertion that only now is he providing an acceptable level of on-field performance. It is also notable that a number of positive public comments from those selectors and his Blues coaches over the last few years have been largely ignored in the framing of his story. Grant Fox’s acknowledgement prior to the 2018 end-of-year tour that Ioane was “getting better at the areas he's been asked to improve at” was published under a headline suggesting that his “star [was] on the wane”, and Leon MacDonald’s comments at the beginning of this season that Ioane had “trained really well, [and] is fit and hungry” did nothing to stop his non-selection for the opening rounds of Super Rugby being painted in the same light.Fascinating blog - those stats indicate that the Chiefs were fucking suicidal to let Coventry go - and that the forward pack of the Blues is as good as it looks.
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A very interesting read on Akira
https://tiponrugby.substack.com/p/centre-of-attention
His workload over 2018 and 2019 included 80-minute performances in 28 of his team’s 32 games, and between 2016 and 2019 he bore the highest workload in attack of any of the players charted above: he contributed 9.4% of his team’s carries during this period, while also beating defenders the most regularly and making more metres per carry than everyone except Ardie Savea and Dalton Papali’i. (Ioane averaged 2.1 more carries per 80 minutes than Savea over this period, and 6.3 more than Papali’i.) This data cannot prove or disprove that Ioane met the standards that the All Blacks selectors were asking him to meet, but it does provide evidence to contradict the assertion that only now is he providing an acceptable level of on-field performance. It is also notable that a number of positive public comments from those selectors and his Blues coaches over the last few years have been largely ignored in the framing of his story. Grant Fox’s acknowledgement prior to the 2018 end-of-year tour that Ioane was “getting better at the areas he's been asked to improve at” was published under a headline suggesting that his “star [was] on the wane”, and Leon MacDonald’s comments at the beginning of this season that Ioane had “trained really well, [and] is fit and hungry” did nothing to stop his non-selection for the opening rounds of Super Rugby being painted in the same light.@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2020:
A very interesting read on Akira
No one ever questioned Akira Ioane's desire to run the ball. It was his refusal to commit to the clean out that clearly irked the AB selectors. There is a lot more to being a loose forward than running the ball.
