BLUES EXPECT DIRECT APPROACH FROM REDS
The Blues head off on a two-week Aussie mission this Thursday afternoon, with their first target in sight the Queensland Reds on Saturday night at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
A potential debut lies in wait for Blues Loose-Forward James Thompson with Akira Ioane staying back in Auckland awaiting the birth of his first child.
Industrious Blindside Flanker Anton Segner is elevated to the starting team for the match while Sam Darry returns to the run on XV after an appearance from the bench last weekend.
Blues Head Coach, Vern Cotter was wary of the challenge that lay in front of his team on Saturday.
“We’re under no illusion as to how difficult it’s going to be to play them up there in Queensland,” said Cotter.
“All we want from our boys is consistent effort, attitude and habits; and each week is a good test of those characteristics for us as a team,” he said.
The same backline runs on to face the Reds, with the only change seeing AJ Lam in the 14 jersey, meaning a switch to the left for Mark Tele’a and a bench spot for Caleb Clarke.
“Caleb’s been on lighter duties to start the week and give his calf a rest. AJ’s been playing well, and this is an opportunity for him to start the game,” said Cotter.
The front row also sees a few minor tweaks with Angus Ta’avao and Soane Vikena elevated to the starting XV for the match in Brisbane.
“We’re playing on their turf and we feel they’ve simplified their game - looking to come at us reasonably direct on Saturday,” said Cotter.
“They’re a team that defensively are quite good at holding players up and they’ll try to slow our ball down, so we’ve had an emphasis on ensuring we deal with that this week.”
“We need to make sure we can get fast ball, and if we can I think we can create breaches and hopefully do enough damage to come away with the win,” Cotter said.
The Blues play the Reds on Saturday, remain in Australia to play the Rebels in Melbourne next Friday, before returning to Auckland for a string of home games to round out their Super Rugby Pacific round-robin.
Blues:
Ofa Tu’ungafasi
Soane Vikena
Angus Ta’avao
Patrick Tuipulotu (c)
Sam Darry
Anton Segner
Dalton Papali’i
Hoskins Sotutu
Taufa Funaki
Harry Plummer
Mark Tele’a
Bryce Heem
Rieko Ioane
AJ Lam
Cole Forbes
Reserves:
Kurt Eklund
Joshua Fusitu’a
Marcel Renata
Laghlan McWhannell
James Thompson*
Sam Nock
Corey Evans
Caleb Clarke
*Potential debut
Players not considered: Stephen Perofeta (shoulder), Finlay Christie (groin), Zarn Sullivan (knee), Rob Rush (calf), Cam Suafoa (sickness), Akira Ioane (paternity leave)
Saturday 27 April
Queensland Reds v Blues
Kick-off 9:35pm
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
LIVE on Sky Sport and Gold Sport & iHeart Radio