RTS feels full force of Canes
FOR a lifelong leaguie, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck sure looks like a heck of a rugby player. The first peek indicates the Blues, and maybe the All Blacks, are on to something special.
The 28-year-old off-season convert made an almost dream debut in Super Rugby Pacific for the Blues in Dunedin last night, an encouraging effort only dented at the finish by a brilliant comeback that snatched an unlikely 33-32 victory for the Hurricanes.
The Blues paid the price for switching off early, and when Salesi Rayasi finished his hattrick with an outstanding finish in the corner in the 77th minute, it gave the Canes a sniff, which they converted into an outstanding victory with Ardie Savea’s 80thminute try off Bailyn Sullivan’s brilliant break past RTS.
The Blues will be gutted that they gave up a 32-14 lead with just 13 minutes remaining, and undoubtedly they were guilty of running out of puff when it mattered. But you had to credit a magnificent never-say-die Canes effort, led by the irrepressible Savea, a top display from Sullivan and some key efforts off the pine.
There was plenty of interest in how the Blues would fare across the board, on the back of their 2021 Trans-Tasman triumph, and a delayed start created by the Covid shutdown of Moana Pasifika. Their lineup, even without a trio of heavy-hitters to start with, is brimming with firepower and X-factor.
Overall their output was promising, if flawed. They laid the foundations, but failed to apply the final touches when it mattered. Josh Goodhue,
Caleb Clarke, Tom Robinson, Kurt Eklund and even Tuivasa-Sheck excelled, but the team hit the wall before the finish line.
Never mind. Within the wider context was an even more compelling storyline – the man who turned his back on a glittering rugby league career to pursue his ambitions in rugby, which he last played more than a decade ago as a schoolboy at Otahuhu College.
Tuivasa-Sheck was one of the very best fullbacks in the game of rugby league, and now he’s working his way back up the ladder as a second fiveeighths in rugby union. Judging by his first official hitout, after a long, long wait, he is already on the way to similar territory in his new code. Class is class is class.
He made a brilliant start with a handful of carries and a couple of excellent offloads within the first dozen minutes that were dominated by the Blues.
If the former Warriors and Kiwis skipper had been nervous about his first official Super Rugby match, it wasn’t obvious. He was busy and mostly effective throughout
the first 40 minutes, and there was a sharpness about his play that was hugely encouraging, all things considering.
The game was only 90 seconds
old when Tuivasa-Sheck had his first touch, a strong carry that saw him get up and go again for crucial extra metres. Not long after he was popping a nice
offload to Rieko Ioane that all but put the centre over. He stayed involved as the Blues dominated possession through the first 40min (66 per cent pill, and a