Sotutu could solve ABs’ loose forward issues

It is still early days but Blues No 8 Hoskins Sotutu increasingly looks like a gift that has fallen into the lap of All Blacks coach Ian Foster and his forwards mentor John Plumtree.

Foster has been upfront about his desire to find another option besides Ardie Savea at the back of the scrum, and as he assesses Sotutu’s work there must be a lot of ticks going beside his name.

Sotutu is big, fast, skilful and tough. A few yellow cards against his name have blotted the copybook but the coaches will back themselves to get that out of his game: what they can’t coach is that desire ball.

While Sotutu’s selection ahead of Akira Ioane raised eyebrows at the start of the campaign, we are all now seeing why that must have been a relatively straightforward decision for the Blues coaches.

Sotutu, 21, has been the pick of the New Zealand No 8s so far this season and only the Sharks’ outstanding Sikhumbuzo Notsche is ahead of him in terms of form throughout the competition. Sotutu merits his place in Stuff’s team of the week.

15. Stephen Perofeta (Blues): Benefited from poor Stormers defence but will still good enough to take his chances when they came.

14. Kobus van Wyk (Hurricanes):

to dominate

without

the Choice between a South African and an Englishman (Joe Marchant) and the decision narrowly goes to van Wyk.

13. Vince Aso (Hurricanes): Contest against Rieko Ioane on Saturday will be revealing as Aso is coming into some strong form.

12. Ngani Laumape (Hurricanes): Sunwolves debutant Alex Horan – the son of Wallabies legend Tim Horan – had to deal with both Ben Lam and Laumape in full flight. No contest.

11. Mark Telea (Blues): Dancing feet were instrumental in setting up a crucial score for the Blues just before halftime. Enjoying a great first campaign.

10. Otere Black (Blues): Pulled the strings well in Cape Town and is allowing the strike players outside him themselves.

9. TJ Perenara (Hurricanes): Grabbed another five-pointer in a typically strong showing.

8. Hoskins Sotutu (Blues): Has an all-round game that will take him places. Marino MikaeleTu’u is also doing some good things at the Highlanders but Sotutu is ahead in this race.

7. Dalton Papali’i (Blues): Lightning quick to spot a turnover chance and grabbed a try by holding his width well, something the Blues’ loosies do well.

6. Tom Robinson (Blues): Another industrious performance in what is his best position.

5. Scott Scrafton (Hurricanes): A weekend that emphasised New Zealand’s lack of depth

to

express in the position but Scrafton got through a decent 80-minute shift.

4. Patrick Tuipulotu (Blues): Has worked hard on his tackling height and crunched Stormers loose forward Jaco Coetzee in a big tackle early on that set the tone.

3. Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes): Scrum deteriorated after Lomax left the field and the Hurricanes need the big man to stay healthy this season.

2. Kurt Eklund (Blues): Highly encouraging performance in a position where the Blues have struggled depth-wise for a number of years.

1. Karl Tu’inukuafe (Blues): Got his big chassis through 68 minutes of graft under the hot Cape Town sun and was a reliable provider of front-foot ball.