Luatua confident Bristol’s million pound man Piutau can shore up leaky defence
AFTER a couple of runouts in the Cup, Bristol’s million-pound man Charles Piutau will be unleased on the Premiership against Exeter today and club captain and childhood friend Steven Luatua expects him to make a huge impact.
As well as being a formidable strike weapon in attack, Luatua says Piutau will also be key to shoring up the Premiership’s leakiest defence.
“It’s great to have him on board, it’s good to have fresh legs and a bit of experience and a lot of communication,” flanker Luatua said.
“He’ll be directing our defence. Sometimes you don’t see the full picture when you’re in that front line, but I guess he has got all that time and space out the back to make the right calls.
“He gives me the right cues and is constantly dripping words; he’s one of those players who I can always rely on to do his job.”
But Luatua adds: “People hype him up too much, Siale (also at Bristol) is the better Piutau! I say that to him all the time, he knows that Siale is my favourite Piutau.”
Bristol have shipped 199 points at an average of 33 per game – form that will see them sunk without trace if it continues.
“We had a good look at ourselves after the Saints game and the Worcester game. We leaked 90 points, give or take, in two weeks. But we’ve had five weeks to make some adjustments and hopefully this week we’ll implement that,” the 15-cap All Black added.
“There is a bit more cohesion and understanding in terms of knowing what the next guy to you is doing. We are a lot more connected now; we’re protecting each other, covering each other and trusting the guy who has the ball carrier in front of him is going to make his tackle.”
Luatua and Piutau, right, grew up together in Auckland and made their All Blacks debuts at the same time, against France in New Plymouth in 2013.
“Our families have been intertwined since we were kids, and I spent a lot of time with him and his 10 siblings. It was great to share a field with him when
we were younger and it’s great to do so again. We had a lot of great times as kids and hopefully we’ll have some more at Bristol.”
Coming up against ‘keepball kings’ Exeter, Bristol will probably have to make more than their fair share of tackles this afternoon.
But Luatua is refreshed and raring to go after enjoying a city break to Barcelona with his wife.
“It was good to have a couple of weeks off, to freshen up and prepare the body for what is to come.
“We’re excited by this challenge. Exeter have been one of the best-run teams for the last couple of years, so it’ll be good to test ourselves and see where we stack up. In the last couple of weeks, in terms of rebuilding and regathering ourselves, I have definitely seen a lot of growth and that gives me a lot of confidence heading into this next block of Prem games.” Nick Haining comes into the back row for his first start in the competition for Bristol. Exeter recall 11 players from their cup win last time out, including Phil Dollman and Gareth Steenson. Alex Cuthbert, Mitch Lees, Stu Townsend and Tom Lawday are the only players to keep their places, with Nic White back on the bench following a broken foot.
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter: “We’ve played against Charles before in big games in the Heineken Cup and we’ve dealt with him pretty well.
“It’s not about saying ‘you have to watch Charles Piutau because he’s a very good player’, it’s about how we play so it will remove the opportunities to get the ball into his hands. We’ve got to have a plan that deals with Bristol as a whole.”