Of all the New Zealand teams, the Blues play a brand of rugby that is closest to the brutality of Test rugby.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s narrow \u2013 too narrow for the taste of the Blues\u2019 critics \u2013 and effectively a \u201cstop us if you can\u201d challenge to defending teams.<\/p>\n
[Cale] is the competition\u2019s in-form No.8 and the Wallabies\u2019 subtle messaging … has been vindicated.<\/p>\n
The Western Force knew the tactic was coming last weekend and picked Jeremy Williams at No.6 to combat it, but they still could do little to halt the Blues.<\/p>\n
When the Aucklanders are at their best, their carry-clean-repeat formula is too much for Super Rugby teams to handle.<\/p>\n
Colloquially, they like to bully teams.<\/p>\n
Arguably their most powerful player, captain Patrick Tuipulotu, is missing due to injury, but that has not changed their modus operandi.<\/p>\n
In his absence, lock Josh Beehre, prop Ofa Tu\u2019ungafasi, No.7 Dalton Papali\u2019i, No.8 Hoskins Sotutu and new bench weapon Torian Barnes are Cotter\u2019s go-to enforcers. Big midfielders AJ Lam and Pita Ahki are also more than happy to lend their frames for some tough carries up the middle.<\/p>\n
Even fullback Zarn Sullivan has the physical presence of a loose forward.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an approach that contrasts completely with the Crusaders\u2019 desire to chase width and offloads in Christchurch last Sunday \u2013 especially playing into the wind in the first half \u2013 and that tighter game will ask a different set of questions of Cale, particularly in defence.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
Schmidt won\u2019t mind that one bit, because if the Wallabies coach considers a change at No.8 this year, he\u2019ll first need to accumulate a lot of strong evidence to replace Harry Wilson.<\/p>\n
The Reds No.8\u2019s toughness is one of his defining characteristics, and while he might not have Cale\u2019s natural athleticism, he is happy in the trenches in Test rugby.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t imply scepticism that Cale can\u2019t adapt to Test rugby, but it takes time for players to reach full maturity.<\/p>\n
Cale\u2019s Brumbies back-row colleague Rory Scott \u2013 do the Brumbies have the best No.6-No.7-No.8 combo in the comp? \u2013 is a good example of this.<\/p>\n
Scott has been around for a few years, but only now does he look like he has fully filled out his frame. This will improve his Wallabies\u2019 chances as they are clearly keen on beefing up their opensides.<\/p>\n
The Blues game will expand Cale\u2019s capacity to absorb and deliver punishment. It\u2019s a great contest for him, another building block and another chance for him to show that he can be something out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n
If Cale can show Kieran Read-style toughness to go with his Pierre Spies-esque athleticism, the Wallabies will have a Rugby World Cup star on their hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the New Zealand teams, the Blues play a brand of rugby that is closest to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-506574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506574","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=506574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}