Super Rugby Pacific: Hoskins Sotutu looks a man on the move for bounceback Blues

ANALYSIS: It’s worth keeping an eye on Blues No 8 Hoskins Sotutu in 2023. Maybe, just maybe, the blockbusting backrower could be about to take a serious step up he’s been threatening to make for a while now.

Sotutu was one of the standouts from the Blues’ bounceback, and extremely hard-fought, 25-19 victory over the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday night that improved 2022’s beaten finalists to 2-1 for the season, and was the response required after last week’s surprise defeat to the Brumbies in Melbourne.

It was the proverbial game of two halves for the Blues at the Cake Tin, as they led 22-5 at the break on the back of Sotutu’s try just before halftime, but spent most of the second spell in batten-down-the-hatches mode as the Hurricanes launched a furious comeback.

But Sotutu was one constant for the Blues who finished the match having to make a strong defensive stand on their line to hold out the fast-finishing Canes who weren’t a million miles from making it three straight wins to open the season.

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He was their top yardage forward by some margin, running for 79 metres on 11 carries, with two defenders beaten and one clean break. He also made 11 tackles (with three misses) and was prominent at the breakdown where he was part of some key turnovers.

It was the sort of busy, industrious effort his coaches want to see from him.

Sotutu, like most All Blacks, will be building towards his best stuff on the back of a limited pre-season, but it’s notable he’s started the year strongly for the Blues who have needed his impact in the loose.

At 24 now, and with 14 tests under his belt, he’s ready to morph into a more consistent, constant rugby player. He remains a long way from the level of the peerless Ardie Savea, but if he hopes to become that sort of a rugby player he needs to start producing these sort of performances on a weekly basis.

“Hos is maturing I suppose,” said Blues coach Leon MacDonald after Saturday’s game. “He’s been challenged by us and the All Blacks around … we know how skilful he is, but it’s bringing that constant workrate and around defence and his physicality in his tackle and breakdown work.

“We’ve talked about those darker arts around matching physicality. He’s doing that really well. The laws suit him around the scrum and being able to get off the back, but he’s also got the skills of a back with his passing and kicking. He’s been a valuable asset to us.”

Blues skipper Dalton Papalii agreed.

“Hos is a beast. We all know that he’s got such a wide range of skillsets and he’s getting better each year,” said Papalii. “It’s good to see him growing his game. Stuff you could say was a weakness back in the day is definitely becoming a strength for him. He’s really someone to watch going forward and he’s growing a lot.”

Sotutu’s fellow Blues All Blacks all look a little short of a full gallop. That’s to be expected. They have a long year and will be aware of the need to hit their peaks later, rather than sooner.

And even 60 to 70 percent of players of this quality is still pretty decent. So, we saw the likes of Finlay Christie, Sotutu and Rieko Ioane make telling contributions on Saturday, on both sides of the ball, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck back up on a standout display last round with a more solid one this week and Beauden Barrett, Caleb Clarke, Stephen Perofeta, Nepo Laulala and even Papalii himself show that perhaps they’re still working towards their best stuff.

The same could be said of Jordie Barrett at the Canes. He’s a class act and a growing force at No 12, but was more workhorse than thoroughbred for his team on Saturday night as they demonstrated palpably that, even without the watching Savea, they are right up there at the pointy end of this competition.

Salesi Rayasi put in a big shift for the Wellington side, Billy Proctor was his busy self in midfield, Brett Cameron came through a tough debut night well at first five and young No 8 Peter Kalai confirmed the immense promise he has. The future looks in good hands if this kid is the face of it.

The Canes very nearly hauled the Blues in, with second-half tries to Rayasi and Josh Moorby, and they’ll take a lot from a contest that could have gone either way at the finish. It feels like that sort of a year. Anybody’s game while the class acts work their way into the form they’re capable of.