‘It’s the Crusaders, bro’: Blues go on high alert
The numbers say Mark Tele’a is playing the house down for the Blues through the first month of Super Rugby Pacific. But the eye test tells you this magical wing with the twinkling toes and shimmying hips has so much more to give yet.
And when you sit down with the 27-yearold incumbent All Blacks speedster ahead of tomorrow’s juicy matchup against the crumbling Crusaders at Eden Park, World Rugby’s breakthrough player of last year makes it clear that he’s a long way from satisfied with where he, or his team, is at so far in 2024.
First things first. The winless Crusaders come to Eden Park as a staggering contradiction in terms. At 0-4, and stuck in the worst losing rut in their history, the 14-time champions appear to have hit the skids. Down on luck, players and confidence, they look ripe for the plucking by a Blues outfit that has won three of four, and appears to be building towards something promising.
Tele’a isn’t buying any storyline that suggests the Blues just have to turn up to tick off win No 4 for the season. He’s been on the wrong side of too many hidings at the hands of the perennial contenders to be lured down that rabbit hole. The Crusaders have won 19 of their last 20 against the Aucklanders, and eight on the bounce at Eden Park, where the last home victory was in 2014.
“It’s the Crusaders, bro, you can never look down on the Crusaders,” says Tele’a with a smile. “Their legacy and history shows how good they are. We’ve got massive respect for them and their record against us is amazing.
“We’re up for the challenge and I know they’ll be up for it too. Even though they’re 0-4, they can come to town, knock us off and get their season going. They’re hungry and as a team we’ve got to step it up and be as hungry as they are.”
Though the Crusaders’ travails have been well documented as they negotiate a horror injury toll and a new coaching era, the Blues are not exactly humming themselves. After a messy defeat to the Canes in the capital, they struggled mightily against a limited Waratahs outfit in Sydney last week before scratching out an unconvincing 12-10 victory.
“We’re doing good,” Tele’a responds. “There’s still a lot of errors we can improve on, but I feel like we’re in a good spot. You can’t just go out and gel from the start. You need those connections, and the only way to build them is by playing and training. The more we do that, the better we’ll get.”
Besides, adds the best wing in the New Zealand game, there’s nothing wrong with a grind-out victory like the Tahs tussle, every now and again.
“Credit to the boys. We stuck in there and held on. In some ways you’d rather take wins like that than win by 20. It shows the character in our team.”
For all the benefits of doing it the hard way, undoubtedly Blues head coach Vern Cotter would like more rhythm and fluency in the output. He charged his men with improving their efficiency in the opposition 22 heading to Sydney, but they took another step backwards, spurning numerous chances with another fumbling display.
Despite the clunkiness of the Blues’ attack, Telea’s numbers still read like he’s hacked the Super Rugby database. He leads the team in carries (59), carry metres (479), line-breaks (5), defenders beaten (17) and offloads (8), though his two tries are three back from Hoskins Sotutu’s competition-leading tally. Tele’a is also top-10 in the league in most of those categories.
Those digits are testament to the work ethic of a wing no longer content to stay wide and wait for the opportunities to come his way.
“You see us getting amongst the traffic now to try to get involved as much as we can,” says the 94kg wing, who is trying to add some bulk to his slender frame. “You want to help out as much as you can, get as many touches as you can and try to influence the game. As a wing you want a big engine because getting involved is good.”