Papali’i leads the charge as brilliant Blues kick butt
Suggestions that compared with league, rugby in Auckland was dead and buried may have been premature.
In kicking the butt of the Brumbies, the best Australian team in Super Rugby Pacific, the Blues showed they’ve hit potential title-winning stride. On a rain drenched night, they controlled the game at Eden Park from start to finish to win 46-7.
They had stars all over the field, but my man of the match was captain Dalton Papali’i, who broke the Brumbies defence almost at will with his savage intensity.
A brilliant burst by Papali’i set up the first Blues try to Hoskins Sotutu in the eighth minute and Papali’i didn’t ease up for the rest of the game.
Mark down the late afternoon game at Eden Park with the Hurricanes on Saturday, May 11, as a clash that will almost certainly be a preview of the final in June.
Talent by the ton
If there’s one position where the All Blacks selectors have a huge field to choose from, it’s on the wing.
Mark Tele’a remains massively difficult to tackle, Emoni Narawa is running hot and Sevu Reece has never been in better form.
Add to the inner circle of the gifted roster Caleb Clarke, who has regained the golden form that made him a test sensation in 2022.
And after Blues halfback Taufa Funaki was sin-binned for a defensive offside against the Brumbies, Clarke stood in at halfback, where he showed his skills range far beyond running as hard and fast as possible with the ball.
The nightmare continues
Having lived on and off in Christchurch for 15 years, I can vouch for the fact that rugby fans there are the toughest in the country.
After Saturday night’s 37-15 loss to the Western Force, which dropped the Crusaders to the bottom of the table, this will be a grim week at home for coach Rob Penney and his team.
There are a host of problems to address. The goal kicking was mediocre. Far too often, there were handling errors. Late in the game, there were two rolling-maul tries for the Force aided by a lack of cohesive defence from the Crusaders.
It feels brutal to add pressure but Friday night’s game in Christchurch with the Rebels looms as a showdown at the Last Chance Saloon.
Thank the Lord for the night
To beat the Fijian Drua at home, it’s become clear you need a handy lead at halftime, then have to handle the hothouse conditions in the second spell. Easy to say but harder to do, unless you’re the Hurricanes, who swe pt to a majestic 28-7 lead at the break in Suva.
They needed that lead in the second half to ensure their 38-15 victory. The temperature at kickoff at 7.05pm was 28 degrees Celsius, with the humidity a sauna-like 86 per cent.
Add in a hugely supportive local crowd of 15,474 people, and it took the class of a Canes side, who look more like title favourites every weekend, to stack up the early points.
The star of the show was centre Billy Proctor, who scored the first try in the sixth minute. In the 33rd, he made a brilliant break from inside his own half, then fed TJ Perenara, who sent Jordie Barrett off for the try of the match.
Still only 24, Proctor’s been a slightly unsung hero since he made his Canes debut as a teenager. He was in the All Blacks XV in France last year and his undemonstrative composure has hints of one of the great All Blacks centres, 1987 World Cup winner Joe Stanley.
Weirdest two minutes of the round
Ahead 28-12 at the 62-minute mark, two minutes later, the Canes were down to 13 as first flanker Du’Plessis Kirifi, and then lock Isaia Walker Leawere were yellow carded by referee Paul Williams.
Kirifi was binned for a high tackle, and Walker-Leawere for infringing in a defensive maul near the Canes line. But the lack of poise didn’t spread and the best the Drua could manage with a two-man advantage was a penalty in the 69th minute.
Will the south rise again?
It started so promisingly for the Highlanders. There was the reassuring sight of Jamie Joseph overseeing training sessions.
In coach Clarke Dermody, there was a Southland man as grounded as a strainer post on a Winton farm.
But the 31-0 loss to the Reds was a reminder that the heroic triumph of the title-winning Highlanders of 2015 is now a long way in the past.
The defeat by the Reds was death for the Highlanders by a thousand little self-inflicted cuts. There were knock-ons, lost balls and errors of judgement. At Super Rugby level, selfbelief is crucial. The glimmer of hope is that next weekend, hosting the Force in Dunedin may be a chance for the Landers to regain some of the spirit of ’15.