Blues to miss services of Tony Woodcock
Pat Lam, the Blues coach was compelled to make an undesired alteration in his squad, as Tony Woodcock has been sidelined. Woodcock was put off the field in a clash against Waratahs and Pat Lam had to reconsider his front row options.
Woodcock was already trying to foster his calf strain that he picked up in another Super Rugby clash against Cheetahs. Pat Lam has introduced Tevita Mailu to fill in for Woodcock as a loose head prop.
Jerome Kaino is one of the players who will be returning to the starting lineup. Pat Lam is glad Kaino is back from the stable of injured player, as he is a major boost to the front row. The forwards are already missing Ali Williams and Daniel Braid, the
All Black’s forward and no Woodcock has been ruled out too.
Lam believes Kaino can produce the required results and is a hard worker. He said, “He's trained well this week and is excited to get back into it after recovering from his injury. He's a key player for us particularly with his physicality and he leads our
young loose forward trio.”
Jerome Kaino is a rugby union player from New Zealand and has been a dominant figure since he started his career. He was given the title of IRB player of the year for International Under-21 rugby. He made his international debut in 2006 and has earned 46
caps for the side and scored 20 points. He appeared for All Blacks for the first time against the Barbarians and gave a superb performance, which earned him man of the match title. The 28 year old loose forward made his debut for Blues in 2004 and has earned
45 caps and scored seven tries since then.
There is no reason Pat Lam shouldn’t have his trust in the All Black hero. Lam believes it’s important to bring international players to the field, as the other team is already filled with Wallabies. He said, “Despite their casualty list the Waratahs are
still stacked full of Wallabies so we're going to have to bring test-match intensity to the game.”
The backline for Blues is the same, while Flio Paulo, the lock has been called on to the field and Pauliasi Manu has been sidelined.
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