Sotutu epitomises rugged Blues
No 8 worthy of test recall after being dumped by national selectors last year
Beating the resilient and resourceful Hurricanes in an 80-minute epic at Eden Park is the most significant proof yet that the 2024 Blues are not the flatter-to-deceive version of their previous selves.
And if there is one player who symbolises this new-found ability within the Blues to lift a gear in the big moments and to produce controlled but thunderous rugby, it is Hoskins Sotutu, who equally delivered his most compelling performance of the season to suggest that he, too, has found the hard edges his game previously lacked.
The reinvention of both the Blues and Sotutu appears symbiotic — as if one epitomises the other, and as if they are locked in a virtuous cycle of the collective feeding off the energy and influence of the man who showed on Saturday that he is the country’s best No 8.
Of all the subplots and micro battles that played out at Eden Park, the clash between two young, emerging and enormously talented loose trios was the most fascinating.
Just as the Blues have been on a journey to discover their inner steel this year, so have the Hurricanes, where the all-action Peter Lakai and bustling Brayden Iose have played with such power, pace and flair as to make everyone wonder not whether it was mad to let Ardie Savea go this year, but whether it will be crazy to bring him back in 2025.
But as good as Iose has been this year, he was comprehensively outplayed by Sotutu, and if these two were neck and neck in the hunt for All Blacks spots, they no longer are.
Sotutu wielded significantly greater influence in the top-of-thetable clash, and he did so because he again showed that he’s learning how to convert his obvious athleticism to destructive effect.
This was the toughest and most intense challenge the Blues have faced this year and Sotutu made his presence felt.
It’s one thing to look the part in early March in hit-and-giggle runabouts against the weaker Australian teams, but this was a game with genuine bite — the sort that would wheedle out any flaws or partially fixed elements of an aspiring test hopeful’s game.
Sotutu broke the line with some dominant carries, made telling tackles, scrambled to his feet with the requisite desire coaches love to see and was seemingly always in the thick of the action.
He played like someone who understands what rugby is all about — that it requires an almost unimaginable level of mental and physical application for gifted athletes to be truly effective.
A year ago, he was prone to going missing in big games and big moments — offering soft shoulders to attackers, while lacking that desire to sacrifice himself entirely to the cause, and it was obvious that Jason Ryan, who joined the All Blacks as forwards coach in July 2022, wasn’t sold on Sotutu’s readiness to play test rugby.
Sotutu was an All Blacks squad regular in the early part of Ian Foster’s tenure, winning 14 caps, the last coming off the bench against England in November 2022.
But in 2023, Sotutu was dropped from the national squad and couldn’t even win a place with the All Blacks XV, illustrating that he just wasn’t Ryan’s cup of tea.
Ryan has shown he wants players whose contribution doesn’t need to be explained but is apparent, and this why Sotutu has now presented the All Blacks forwards coach with his own test of resolve.
Whatever perceptions or views were previously held about Sotutu, he has played well enough for long enough for them to be challenged.
If Sotutu was seen as a gifted athlete but with equally obvious shortcomings in the last World Cup cycle, he’s showing now that he’s evolved into a hard-edged player who does all the nasty, unglamorous stuff but with the added attraction of possessing undeniable X-factor.
Sotutu hasn’t proven he’s now a test calibre player but he has played with the toughness and commitment to have earned the opportunity to prove he is.
He’s taken on board what was likely quite harsh and cold feedback about where he stood in the national pecking order and has shown the resolve to respond to that criticism with hard work and dedication rather than petulance and disdain.
The challenge now for the All Blacks selectors is to respond to Sotutu’s response to being dropped and open the door for him to see if he can bring his Super Rugby form to the test arena.
And presumably they have every intention of doing just that and have signalled as much to Sotutu, who last week extended his contract to stay in New Zealand for another two years.
Sotutu broke the line with dominant carries, made telling tackles.