{"id":199052,"date":"2025-12-24T02:55:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T02:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/199052\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T02:55:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T02:55:14","slug":"all-blacks-snub-hoskins-sotutus-prem-switch-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/199052\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks snub Hoskins Sotutu&#8217;s PREM switch confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Newcastle Red Bulls have made a major statement of intent ahead of next season, with All Blacks ace Hoskins Sotutu joining the club.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The back-row forward, who is eligible to play for England, joins from Super Rugby outfit the Blues, after putting pen to paper on a three-year deal.<\/p>\n<p>Sotutu is the latest big name to join the Red Bulls revolution, following the likes of Tom Christie to the club.<\/p>\n<p>Hoskins Sotutu to join Newcastle Red Bulls<\/p>\n<p>The 2024 Super Rugby Player of the Year brings a wealth of experience with him to Kingston Park, following a successful stint in his native New Zealand. At the time of writing, he has notched 80 appearances for the Blues, scoring 31 tries in the process, and helped the Auckland-based side to a Super Rugby title in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside that, he has also amassed 14 Test caps for the All Blacks,<\/p>\n<p>Commenting on joining the club, Sotutu said:\u00a0\u201cI am excited to be committing to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/team\/newcastle\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newcastle Red Bulls<\/a>\u2018 project moving forward, and coming to compete in the Gallagher PREM week in, week out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe club made it clear to me how ambitious they are, and I am looking forward to getting started.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have enjoyed my time at the Blues and am looking to finish on a high before hitting the ground running in the North East of England.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"px-3 xs:px-4 mt-3 mb-2 font-semibold leading-snug text-base text-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/aphelele-fassi-reveals-what-a-privilege-it-is-to-play-for-the-springboks-siya-kolisis-advice-and-how-he-modelled-his-game-on-all-blacks-star\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aphelele Fassi reveals \u2018what a privilege\u2019 it is to play for the Springboks, Siya Kolisi\u2019s \u2018advice\u2019 and how he modelled his game on All Blacks star<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"px-3 xs:px-4 mt-3 mb-2 font-semibold leading-snug text-base text-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/stormers-confirm-springboks-captain-siya-kolisis-sensational-return\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stormers confirm Springboks captain Siya Kolisi\u2019s SENSATIONAL return<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Newcastle sporting general manager, Neil McIlroy, added: \u201cThis is a huge signing which brings major firepower into the club, and sends a message around the league.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/hoskins-sotutu\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hoskins<\/a> is a player who was very much in demand from other teams, but he has seen what is being planned at Newcastle Red Bulls and wants to be part of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s an X-factor player who will make a big impact on the field, and the way he plays will get people off their seats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe profile of the club and the Gallagher PREM as a whole will grow massively as a result of him joining us, and this is a signing which shows we really mean business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/prem-rugby-team-of-the-week-louis-rees-zammits-statement-performance-as-england-hopeful-continues-to-push-case\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PREM Rugby Team of the Week: Louis Rees-Zammit\u2019s \u2018statement\u2019 performance as England hopeful \u2018continues to push case\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newcastle Red Bulls have made a major statement of intent ahead of next season, with All Blacks ace&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33339,1634,42,1463,122549,111,2653,43,13180,82286,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-199052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-blues","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-home-page","12":"tag-hoskins-sotutu","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newcastle","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-premiership","17":"tag-super-rugby","18":"tag-top-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topnews","21":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}