The nib Blues have named an exciting side for their opening game of the 2026 Super Rugby Aupiki season against Hurricanes Poua at Eden Park on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The defending champions will begin their new campaign in front of their home fans, with kick-off at 2.05pm.<\/p>\n
The team features two significant milestones for Liana Mikaele-Tu\u2019u and Grace Gago, who will both run out in their 20th appearance for the club.<\/p>\n
Mikaele-Tu\u2019u will bring up the milestone as starting No.8 while Gago is set to add impact off the bench.<\/p>\n
In the forwards, talented loose forward Amarante Sititi earns her first start in Blues colours after impressing throughout the pre-season.<\/p>\n
The backline features three debutantes in the starting XV, with Sariyah Paitai selected on the left wing, Hollyrae Mete-Renata at second five and Mererangi Paul on the right wing.<\/p>\n
The Blues pack will be led by an experienced core, with internationals Cilia-Marie Po\u2019e-Tofaeono, Atlanta Lolohea and Aldora Itunu in the front row. <\/p>\n
Captain Maiakawanakaulani Roos and Maama Vaipulu combine in the second row, while Taufa Bason joins Mikaele-Tu\u2019u and Sititi in a powerful loose forward trio.<\/p>\n
Behind the scrum, halfback Tara Turner links with Ruahei Demant, Mete-Renata and Sylvia Brunt in a talented midfield. Braxton Sorensen-McGee provides her flair from fullback.<\/p>\n
The bench includes three further debutantes, with Danny-Elle Fesolai, Ffion Penney and Hazel Tubic all in line for their first appearances for the club.<\/p>\n
nib Blues Team – Round 1 vs Hurricanes Poua
2.05pm (NZT), Saturday 13 June at Eden Park<\/p>\n
1. Cilia-Marie Po\u2019e-Tofaeono
2. Atlanta Lolohea
3. Aldora Itunu
4. Maiakawanakaulani Roos
5. Maama Vaipulu
6. Amarante Sititi (debut)
7. Taufa Bason
8. Liana Mikaele-Tu\u2019u (20th game)
9. Tara Turner
10. Ruahei Demant
11. Sariyah Paitai (debut)
12. Hollyrae Mete-Renata (debut)
13. Sylvia Brunt
14. Mererangi Paul (debut)
15. Braxton Sorensen-McGee<\/p>\n
Reserves: 16. Grace Gago (20th game), 17. Nijiho Nagata, 18. Harono Te Iringa, 19. Eloise Blackwell, 20. Tafito Lafaele, 21. Danny-Elle Fesolai (debut), 22. Ffion Penney (debut), 23. Hazel Tubic (debut)<\/p>\n
Unavailable due to injury: Ella Henderson (concussion), Cheyenne Tuli-Fale (back), Chryss Viliko (knee)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nib Blues have named an exciting side for their opening game of the 2026 Super Rugby Aupiki…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-728938","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\/728938","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=728938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}