Beating the resilient and resourceful Hurricanes in an 80-minute epic at Eden Park is the most significant proof yet that the 2024 Blues are not the flatter-to-deceive version of their previous selves.
And if there is one player who symbolises this new-found ability within the Blues tolift a gear in the big moments and produce controlled but thunderous rugby, it is Hoskins Sotutu, who equally delivered his most compelling performance of the season to suggest he too has found the hard edges his game previously lacked.
The reinvention of both the Blues and Sotutu appears symbiotic – as if one epitomises the other, as though they are locked in a virtuous cycle of the collective feeding off the energy and influence of the man who showed on Saturday he is the country’s best No 8.
Of all the subplots and micro-battles that played out at Eden Park, the clash between two young, emerging and enormously talented loose trios was the most fascinating.
Just as the Blues have been on a journey to discover their inner steel this year, so too have the Hurricanes, where the all-action Peter Lakai and bustling Brayden Iose have played with such power, pace and flair as to make everyone wonder not whether it was mad to let Ardie Savea go this year, but whether it will be crazy to bring him back in 2025.
But as good as Iose has been this year, he was comprehensively outplayed by Sotutu, and if these two went into Saturday’s match neck-and-neck in the hunt for All Blacks’ spots, the Aucklander now has the lead.
Sotutu wielded significantly greater influence in the top-of-the-table clash, and he did so because he again showed he’s learning how to convert his obvious athleticism to destructive effect.
This was the toughest and most intense challenge the Blues have faced this year, and Sotutu made his presence felt.
It’s one thing to look the part in early March in hit-and-giggle runabouts against the weaker Australian teams, but this was a game with genuine bite – the sort that would wheedle out any flaws or partially fixed elements of an aspiring test hopeful’s game.
Sotutu broke the line with some dominant carries, made telling tackles, scrambled to his feet with the requisite desire coaches love to see and was seemingly always in the thick of the action.
Hoskins Sotutu has been a force for the Blues this season. Photo / Photosport
He played like someone who understands what rugby is all about – that it requires an almost unimaginable level of mental and physical application for gifted athletes to be truly effective.
A year ago, he was prone to going missing in big games and big moments – offering soft shoulders to attackers while lacking that desire to sacrifice himself entirely to the cause, and it was obvious Jason Ryan, who joined the All Blacks as forwards coach in July 2022, wasn’t sold on Sotutu’s readiness to play test rugby.
Sotutu was an All Blacks squad regular in the early part of Ian Foster’s tenure, winning 14 caps, the last of which he earned coming off the bench against England in November 2022.
But in 2023, Sotutu was dropped from the national squad and couldn’t even win a place with the All Blacks XV, illustrating that he just wasn’t Ryan’s cup of tea at all.
Ryan has shown he wants players whose contribution doesn’t need to be explained but is apparent and undeniable, and this is why Sotutu has now presented the All Blacks forwards coach with his own test of resolve.
Whatever perceptions or views were previously held about Sotutu, he has played well enough for long enough now for them to be challenged.
If Sotutu was seen as a gifted athlete but with equally obvious shortcomings in the last World Cup cycle, he’s showing now he’s evolved into a hard-edged player who does all the nasty, unglamorous stuff but with the added attraction of possessing undeniable X-factor.
Sotutu hasn’t proven he’s now a test-calibre player, but he has played with the toughness and commitment to have earned the opportunity to prove he is.
He’s taken on board what was likely quite harsh and cold feedback about where he stood in the national pecking order and has shown the mental resolve to respond to that criticism with hard work and dedication rather than petulance and disdain for the judgement.
The challenge now for the All Blacks selectors: to respond to Sotutu’s response to being dropped and open the door for him to return to the test fold this year and see if he can bring his Super Rugby form to the test arena.
And presumably, they have every intention of doing just that and have signalled as much to Sotutu, who last week extended his contract to stay in New Zealand for another two years.
