<\/p>\n
\nHoskins Sotutu with fans.
\nPhoto: Brett Phibbs\/Photosport\n<\/p>\n
Former All Blacks loose forward Hoskins Sotutu has signed with English Premiership club Newcastle Red Bulls and will depart the Blues after the 2026 Super Rugby season.<\/p>\n
He remained fully committed to the Blues for their upcoming campaign, he said.<\/p>\n
Since making his Super Rugby debut for the Blues in 2019, Sotutu has established himself as one of the competition’s best loose forwards, playing 79 games.<\/p>\n
He made his All Blacks debut in 2020 and played 14 tests, but hasn’t represented New Zealand since November 2022.<\/p>\n
Sotutu said the move presented an exciting opportunity, but his immediate focus remained on the Blues.<\/p>\n
“This club means a lot to me. The Blues has been my home for a long time and I’m proud of what we’ve achieved,” Sotutu said.<\/p>\n
“I’m grateful to the coaching staff, teammates and our fans for the support over the years and look forward to one more season with the boys.”<\/p>\n
Blues general manager rugby Murray Williams said Sotutu would leave a strong mark on the club.<\/p>\n
“He’s a world-class player and a leader within our environment,” Williams said.<\/p>\n
“Newcastle are gaining a high-quality professional, and we’re pleased to have Hoskins fully committed to the Blues for another full season. He’ll continue to set the standard for us in 2026.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hoskins Sotutu with fans. Photo: Brett Phibbs\/Photosport Former All Blacks loose forward Hoskins Sotutu has signed with English…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,1590,63,1589,44,1591,1588,1586,1587,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-367551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-audio","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-current-affairs","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-podcasts","14":"tag-public-radio","15":"tag-radio-new-zealand","16":"tag-rnz","17":"tag-rugby","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}