A well connected outfit
has been too often squandered by New Zealand leadership down the years. And it nearly happened again.
Sotutu has said that his ‘‘relaxed’’ attitude at training last year was not giving the coaches much to go on. He said: ‘‘I get the same feedback throughout all the teams, that I look like I don’t care. It’s just my face, I guess.’’
When Sotutu was with the New Zealand under 20 team he was given very little game time. He said: ‘‘I just felt they didn’t really like me.’’
It’s the cliche of ‘‘he doesn’t care’’. It’s the cliche of ‘‘just another lazy Islander’. But it’s that stereotyping which is lazy. Sotutu cares deeply. But you have to connect.
The Blues have made the connection. Sotutu says of Akira Ioane: ‘‘Aki’s sort of the big brother in the team. He’s happy for me and happy that I’m getting a shot. He’s always been helping me out through my development with the Blues . . . The Blues are my team, the team I care about – and I feel like I was only going to play the best rugby for a team that I care about.’’
That tells you a huge amount about the selfless humanity of Akira Ioane, who is still only 25. That tells you a huge amount about the current culture of the Blues. This is a team that cares. This is a team that is running over people in those final 20 minutes when you find out a lot about ticker and fitness.
How about that final try which finished off the Chiefs. Tuipulotu started it with a lineout win. Then Akira Ioane ran at the Chiefs’ midfield, aided by a big clear out from Sotutu. Tuipulotu made two giant surges into the Chiefs 22. And then Sotutu broke the defence with that long spin, cut-out pass off his left hand.
And don’t think that was a fluke. Sotutu had thrown a couple of beautiful passes off his left hand earlier in the match. His lineout performance was dominant. And then there was the huge kick out of his 22.
The range of skills has had people rightly thinking about Zinzan Brooke. But maybe they should also be thinking about Toutai Kefu, perhaps Australia’s last great No 8 who said not so long ago: ‘‘In terms of a ballplaying No 8, I just don’t see many around these days.’’ I think he just found him, only not in Australia.
It is also worth remembering that Kefu supported Israel Folau, even though he may not have agreed with him. Folau, however much you may not like it, was a target of white colonialism, however right-on, liberally permissive that white colonialism may have looked. I suspect this Blues team may have found a way to connect with Folau that Raelene Castle, Michael Cheika and Michael Hooper failed to find.
As MacDonald said, these Blues are turning up, being themselves, and not pretending to be someone else. Quirky is cool. They are connected.
And maybe good men make good All Blacks, but what is the definition of ‘‘a good man’’?
The task for Ian Foster, and his overwhelmingly white leadership group, will be to grow an All Blacks team that is truly connected. If Foster succeeds, no one could stop New Zealand.
‘‘If Patrick Tuipulotu or Akira Ioane or Hoskins Sotutu or Sam Knock or Rieko Ioane want bleached or pink hair, then let them be.’’