Tag: Super Rugby
Woodman-Wickliffe headlines 2025 Womens Blues squad
The Blues Women’s Super Rugby Aupiki squad will be looking to create a dynasty after last season's triumph.
Their squad for 2025 features nine new...
Blues news – big bash on!
If the big bashes in the Super Rugby final weren’t enough to sate Blues’ rugby fans, there’s another plan in place.
Some of the stars...
Hoskins Sotutu – forgotten silver good as gold
A dozen 'mince pies' for the season may not have been enough to earn Razor's favour, but Hoskins Sotutu's 2024 statistics have been recognised...
Onus on Blues fans to fill Eden Park
Opinion
A smallish, weather-beaten audience did their best in bringing home the Blues in Friday night's Super Rugby Pacific Semi-Final, but a much larger and...
At last Blues the real deal
By Ivan Agnew, award-wining sports writer
Having taken 18 long years to beat the Super Rugby champion Crusaders at Christchurch, the wait was almost...
Yvette’s ‘little brother’ a battler
When he was a child, Roy Williams’ father - a WWI veteran and strict disciplinarian - firmly told him and his sister to, “never...
OPINION: Rennie is Wallabies’ dangerman
Coach Dave Rennie is Australia's dangerman going into the first Bledisloe Cup test against Ian Foster's All Blacks in Wellington on Sunday.
For both it...
SRA: Laumape’s power and pace stuns Blues
Jordie Barrett’s sideline conversion to secure a 27-25 win over the Blues in Wellington’s Saturday night Super Rugby Aotearoa thriller gave him bragging rights...
Blues send powerful line-up south for top-of-table clash
The Blues have named arguably their strongest team for the top of the table match against the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday.
The pack is...
SRA: Blues survive scare, Chiefs blame ref
The resurgent Blues held on against a spirited Highlanders effort to take a slim 27-24 win at a moist Eden Park on Saturday night.
Given...
Agnews Angle: Blues and Mystics vie for bragging rights
As captain of the Blues and Northern Mystics rugby and netball teams respectively, it’s hard to decide who among partners All Black Patrick Tuipulotu...
No longer singing the Blues after impressive Eden Park effort
Singing the Blues went from a funeral dirge to a celebration when Super Rugby Aotearoa kicked off before 43,000 fans at Eden Park on...
Try-ing times: Rugby’s return scratches itch for sports fans
Sports fans groaned a collective sigh of relief as a truncated version of the NRL season kicked off last weekend.
The sparse stadia were populated...
Super Rugby: Jordie steps up for AB’s no 15
Having outplayed the mercurial Damian McKenzie in the Hurricanes’ last-minute 27-24 Super Rugby win against the Chiefs, Jordie Barrett served notice to brother Beauden...
Opinion: Blues go marching on in Super Rugby
A three-game Super Rugby winning streak culminating in a 24-15 victory against the dangerous Hurricanes in Wellington has confirmed the Blues’ long-awaited improvement.
The latest,...
Opinion: The marketing of the NRL – simply the best
The NRL has launched its new season with a new video which features a spectacular re-working of the Tina Turner classic Simply the best....
Super Rugby: Improved Blues face mighty Hurricanes
OPINION
Having deservedly overcome the previously unbeaten Stormers 33-10 in Cape Town, the Blues face an even sterner test of their Super Rugby talent against...
Ivan’s angle: Gatland’s Chiefs made of the right stuff
Coach Warren Gatland would have relished his Chiefs 25-15 Super Rugby win against Scott Robertson’s champion Crusaders in Hamilton on Saturday night.
It proved his...
OPINION: Combine the top playmakers
Call me crazy but I would like to see the All Blacks combine Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett in the five-eighths before the World...
OPINION: Chiefs scrape in
Having scraped into the Super Rugby last eight playoffs in seventh spot, the Chiefs once again showed the courage that has characterised their game.
Written...
OPINION: Mo’unga and Barrett brothers star
Richie Mo’unga and Jordie and Beauden Barrett were the All Blacks to demonstrate their special gifts in the latest round of Super Rugby last...
OPINION: Crusaders hone champions
No Super Rugby team can match the Crusaders for identifying player talent and honing it to All Black status.
That’s why they’ve got about a...
OPINION: Has Nonu stepped into World Cup contention?
If there were any doubts soon to be 37-year-old Ma’a Nonu was too old to play in this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan,...
OPINION: Fans singing the Blues
Three consecutive Super Rugby wins have Blues fans singing their praises, with none better than their gutsy 24-9 home win against the Stormers.
That latest...
McKenzie and Ioane are superstars
Damian McKenzie and Rieko Ioane emerged as the superstars in a topsy-turvy latest round of Super Rugby which saw the Chiefs register their first...
OPINION: Nonu and SBW fail to fire
High hopes that the injection of coaches Leon MacDonald and Tom Coventry would lift the Blues out of Super Rugby obscurity are starting to...
Blues have genuine talent
Don’t blame young Harry Plummer for missing a conversion and a penalty which would have saved the Blues from their 24-22 Super Rugby loss...
Dr Jekyll inspires Warriors
Having played Mister Hyde in being thrashed by the Penrith Panthers in the NRL the previous week, the Warriors took on the mantle of...
Laumape the toughest
Surely the toughest back in world rugby to tackle is juggernaut Ngani Laumape who scored four stunning tries in the Hurricanes 42-24 triumph against...
Laumape before Sonny Bill
I find it incredulous that some rugby scribes believed Sonny Bill Williams would be the answer to the All Blacks backline woes for Saturday’s...
Blues team finalised for home game against Jaguares
Pakuranga United Rugby Club player Dalton Papali'i (ex Saint Kentigern College) will start for the Blues on the left flank in their Super Rugby...
Fans singing the Blues
Wonderful wins by the Blues and Warriors over the Lions and South Sydney respectively has given hope to rugby union and league fans whose...
Blues name powerful side for Investec Super Rugby opener
A bunch of All Blacks mixed with daring debutants will open the Blues Investec Super Rugby season against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday.
Head...
Blues name extended squad for pre-season opener
The Blues have named an extended 36-strong squad to meet the Chiefs in their first pre-season match at Te Kuiti this afternoon.
The Super Rugby...
Lions roar into final
The Johannesburg-based Lions have restored pride in South African rugby upon roaring to a stunning 44-29 Super Rugby semi-final home triumph against the defending...
Likely NZ Super Rugby final
Home advantage should help the Crusaders win their Super Rugby semi-final against the Chiefs on Saturday, but I doubt it will give the Lions...
Blues largely unchanged for Easter clash
The Blues have named a virtually unchanged side for their Easter clash against the current Investec Super Rugby champions, the Hurricanes at Eden Park...