All Blacks Rieko Ioane has made a speedy recovery from his hand injury and has been named in the starting 15’s for this weekend's Super Rugby clash against the Stormers in Cape Town.
Ioane was expected to miss several weeks of Super Rugby action after fracturing his hand earlier this month but the Blues announced this morning that he has recovered well and will join TJ Faiane in the midfield.
The only other change sees Sam Nock take over the starting halfback role with Jonathan Ruru moving to the bench.
Blues coach Leon MacDonald says the team will need to produce another 80-minute performance if they want to hand the Stormers their first loss of the season.
MacDonald says they need to concentrate on their core roles, securing set phase and winning the battle at the breakdown.
The Blues will play the Stormers at 1.05am Sunday.
Blues: 15 Stephen Perofeta, 14 Joe Marchant, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 TJ Faiane, 11 Mark Telea, 10 Otere Black, 9 Sam Nock; 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Dalton Papalii, 6 Tom Robinson, 5 Jacob Pierce, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu ©, 3 Sione Mafileo 2 Kurt Eklund, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe.
Reserves: 16 Luteru Tolai, 17 Marcel Renata, 18 Ofa Tuungafasi, 18 Aaron Carroll, 20 Blake Gibson, 21 Jonathan Ruru, 22 Harry Plummer, 23 Matt Duffie.
| Date | Time | Team | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
[Source: TVNZ]
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