{"id":401291,"date":"2024-06-09T05:22:30","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T05:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=401291"},"modified":"2024-06-09T06:04:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T06:04:37","slug":"brumbies-boosted-by-blues-skippers-cruel-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=401291","title":{"rendered":"Brumbies boosted by Blues skipper's cruel injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking at Patrick Tuipulotu's expression as he sat on the bench at Eden Park was rather telling.<\/p>\n

And so it proved, with confirmation on Sunday the Blues captain will miss the remainder of his team's Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> campaign with a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Tuipulotu tore the medial ligament in his right knee early in the quarter-final rout of the meek Drua at Eden Park on Saturday<\/a>, forcing him off the park after 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific finals series<\/strong><\/em> with<\/strong><\/em> every match ad free, live and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

It's a major blow for the Blues, who will have to get by without their skipper if they're to win their first fully fledged title in more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Tuipulotu isn't just expected to miss the final two weeks of Super Rugby.<\/p>\n

He's likely to be sidelined for up to seven weeks with the injury, meaning he won't be available for All Blacks coach Scott Robertson's first few Tests in charge, starting against England next month.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Maxwell's classic reply as Aussies pump Ashes foes<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Amazing' Swiatek clinches third straight French title<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Brilliant Brumbies lock in semi-final at Eden Park<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1799424429682033069?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

The big lock has been a standout for the Blues this year, and almost certainly would have cracked Robertson's squad to play two Tests against England and one against Fiji, which will be named after the Super Rugby final later this month.<\/p>\n

The Blues face the Brumbies at Eden Park on Friday in the first semi-final, with the winner facing the Hurricanes or Chiefs in the decider the following weekend.<\/p>\n

Flanker Dalton Papalii is expected to captain the Blues in Tuipulotu's absence.<\/p>\n

\"Drua<\/p>\n

The second seeded Blues possibly made harder work than they should have in beating the Drua 36-5.<\/p>\n

The Blues set piece dominance allowed them to control territory and possession in a first half in which they scored three tries.<\/p>\n

The Drua scored the best try of the match after halftime but the Blues closed out the match with the help of a double to winger Caleb Clarke.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Iain Payten joins Michael Atkinson to chat Wallabies, Super Rugby Pacific and the champion sevens team<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/rugby-world-cup-inside-line\/listener-questions-bonanza\/embed?in_playlist=podcast&style=Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

The quarter-final in Canberra between the third seeded Brumbies and the sixth ranked Highlanders was the closest of the four.<\/p>\n

The Highlanders led 16-10 heading into halftime.<\/p>\n

But Brumbies hooker Billy Pollard scored tries just before the break and just after, giving the hosts a 22-16 lead which they extended while holding the Highlanders scoreless in the second half.<\/p>\n

\"'World<\/p>\n

The Brumbies once again have kept alive Australian interest in the finals series.<\/p>\n

"Finals footy is all about taking your chances and I thought we did that in the second half," Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa said.<\/p>\n

With only a few moments of concern, the four top seeded teams played their way into the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

\"Muirhead<\/p>\n

It might be of concern to the competition that a pecking order clearly established in March endured throughout the regular season and was so clearly manifested in one sided quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

But Super Rugby already has challenges ahead with the dissolution of the Rebels who played their last game on Saturday after 14 years in the competition.<\/p>\n

Rugby Australia will not renew the Rebels because of concern about the club's financial stability.<\/p>\n

\"Rebels<\/p>\n

Super Rugby now has to find a way to make a coherent and compelling format from an 11 team championship comprising five New Zealand, four Australian and two Pacific teams.<\/p>\n

The Rebels have struggled to find a foothold in the highly competitive Melbourne sporting market, dominated by AFL and featuring the successful Melbourne Storm and two A-League football teams.<\/p>\n

But they have put together a strong squad this season which now will be dispersed, possibly strengthening the other Australian franchises or weakening Australian rugby if those players head overseas.<\/p>\n

\"Rebels<\/p>\n

The Rebels exited with no bitterness but a little regret.<\/p>\n

"It was our goal from the start of the year to be the greatest Rebels team ever," captain Rob Leota said.<\/p>\n

"We had high hopes to go further but you can't give opportunities to a team like the Hurricanes. For this club, we hope we did everyone proud and hopefully we can see this team come back in the next couple of years."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking at Patrick Tuipulotu's expression as he sat on the bench at Eden Park was rather telling. And so it proved, with confirmation on Sunday […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":401293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=401291"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401296,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401291\/revisions\/401296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/401293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=401291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=401291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=401291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}