Blues 2026
-
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Landers92 said in Blues 2026:
@george33 said in Blues 2026:
James Cameron
Eli Oudenryn signed for Blues.And there goes the odd man out. I know I was talking about it a bit but didn’t expect him to end up with the Blues. What a great signing this is.
It had to Happen to many players in the Crusaders region, Cameron also blocked by A Tuivailala and Cooper Roberts coming through who the Crusaders have invested in.
Good to see both of them get a contract both talented players.Ouderyn looks a very good prospect - big and dynamic - All Black potential. Disappointing to see him go - and doubtless he'll soon be appearing for one of those Auckland teams in NPC.
I hope we've kept the right guys!
-
@Chris-B said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Landers92 said in Blues 2026:
@george33 said in Blues 2026:
James Cameron
Eli Oudenryn signed for Blues.And there goes the odd man out. I know I was talking about it a bit but didn’t expect him to end up with the Blues. What a great signing this is.
It had to Happen to many players in the Crusaders region, Cameron also blocked by A Tuivailala and Cooper Roberts coming through who the Crusaders have invested in.
Good to see both of them get a contract both talented players.Ouderyn looks a very good prospect - big and dynamic - All Black potential. Disappointing to see him go - and doubtless he'll soon be appearing for one of those Auckland teams in NPC.
I hope we've kept the right guys!
Time will tell on Letiu if it is the right choice.
Always the danger Ouderyn will be swooped on by Australia in the near future as well.
Same as Nick Frost and Joe Brial who were both in the Crusaders system also. -
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Chris-B said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Landers92 said in Blues 2026:
@george33 said in Blues 2026:
James Cameron
Eli Oudenryn signed for Blues.And there goes the odd man out. I know I was talking about it a bit but didn’t expect him to end up with the Blues. What a great signing this is.
It had to Happen to many players in the Crusaders region, Cameron also blocked by A Tuivailala and Cooper Roberts coming through who the Crusaders have invested in.
Good to see both of them get a contract both talented players.Ouderyn looks a very good prospect - big and dynamic - All Black potential. Disappointing to see him go - and doubtless he'll soon be appearing for one of those Auckland teams in NPC.
I hope we've kept the right guys!
Time will tell on Letiu if it is the right choice.
Always the danger Ouderyn will be swooped on by Australia in the near future as well.
Same as Nick Frost and Joe Brial who were both in the Crusaders system also.Slightly different scenario I would have thought
Brial's dad was a Wallaby
Frost is an Aussie who spent all his life in Aus up until leaving school where he then went to the Crusaders and Frost's old man was high up in Rugby Australia
Oudenryan as I understand was born in NZ and schooled in NZ and his old man has connections with NZ.
-
Not sure he has much to do with the old man but I might be wrong
-
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
Always the danger Ouderyn will be swooped on by Australia in the near future as well.
From the article:
“Growing up on the Shore, the Blues were always my team. To now get the chance to be part of the squad is a dream come true. I want to learn, grow my game, and give everything I can for the region.”I'm sure hookers never lie. Well, that's what they tell me.
-
@nostrildamus said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
Always the danger Ouderyn will be swooped on by Australia in the near future as well.
From the article:
“Growing up on the Shore, the Blues were always my team. To now get the chance to be part of the squad is a dream come true. I want to learn, grow my game, and give everything I can for the region.”I'm sure hookers never lie. Well, that's what they tell me.
You've quoted the wrong guy. That was a quote from Cameron.
-
@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2026:
You've quoted the wrong guy. That was a quote from Cameron.
apologies! mixing up Palmie and the Shore!
-
@zedsdeadbaby said in Blues 2026:
Not sure he has much to do with the old man but I might be wrong
Hope he's a bit tougher in contact than his old man!
-
@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Chris-B said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Landers92 said in Blues 2026:
@george33 said in Blues 2026:
James Cameron
Eli Oudenryn signed for Blues.And there goes the odd man out. I know I was talking about it a bit but didn’t expect him to end up with the Blues. What a great signing this is.
It had to Happen to many players in the Crusaders region, Cameron also blocked by A Tuivailala and Cooper Roberts coming through who the Crusaders have invested in.
Good to see both of them get a contract both talented players.Ouderyn looks a very good prospect - big and dynamic - All Black potential. Disappointing to see him go - and doubtless he'll soon be appearing for one of those Auckland teams in NPC.
I hope we've kept the right guys!
Time will tell on Letiu if it is the right choice.
Always the danger Ouderyn will be swooped on by Australia in the near future as well.
Same as Nick Frost and Joe Brial who were both in the Crusaders system also.Slightly different scenario I would have thought
Brial's dad was a Wallaby
Frost is an Aussie who spent all his life in Aus up until leaving school where he then went to the Crusaders and Frost's old man was high up in Rugby Australia
Oudenryan as I understand was born in NZ and schooled in NZ and his old man has connections with NZ.
His old man was former Wahs and Parramatta speedster Lee Oudenryn.
-
@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Chris-B said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Landers92 said in Blues 2026:
@george33 said in Blues 2026:
James Cameron
Eli Oudenryn signed for Blues.And there goes the odd man out. I know I was talking about it a bit but didn’t expect him to end up with the Blues. What a great signing this is.
It had to Happen to many players in the Crusaders region, Cameron also blocked by A Tuivailala and Cooper Roberts coming through who the Crusaders have invested in.
Good to see both of them get a contract both talented players.Ouderyn looks a very good prospect - big and dynamic - All Black potential. Disappointing to see him go - and doubtless he'll soon be appearing for one of those Auckland teams in NPC.
I hope we've kept the right guys!
Time will tell on Letiu if it is the right choice.
Always the danger Ouderyn will be swooped on by Australia in the near future as well.
Same as Nick Frost and Joe Brial who were both in the Crusaders system also.Slightly different scenario I would have thought
Brial's dad was a Wallaby
Frost is an Aussie who spent all his life in Aus up until leaving school where he then went to the Crusaders and Frost's old man was high up in Rugby Australia
Oudenryan as I understand was born in NZ and schooled in NZ and his old man has connections with NZ.
Yeah maybe but I am sure his old man will steer him in the quickest rout to test Rugby which probably will be Australia.
-
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Chris-B said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Landers92 said in Blues 2026:
@george33 said in Blues 2026:
James Cameron
Eli Oudenryn signed for Blues.And there goes the odd man out. I know I was talking about it a bit but didn’t expect him to end up with the Blues. What a great signing this is.
It had to Happen to many players in the Crusaders region, Cameron also blocked by A Tuivailala and Cooper Roberts coming through who the Crusaders have invested in.
Good to see both of them get a contract both talented players.Ouderyn looks a very good prospect - big and dynamic - All Black potential. Disappointing to see him go - and doubtless he'll soon be appearing for one of those Auckland teams in NPC.
I hope we've kept the right guys!
Time will tell on Letiu if it is the right choice.
Always the danger Ouderyn will be swooped on by Australia in the near future as well.
Same as Nick Frost and Joe Brial who were both in the Crusaders system also.Slightly different scenario I would have thought
Brial's dad was a Wallaby
Frost is an Aussie who spent all his life in Aus up until leaving school where he then went to the Crusaders and Frost's old man was high up in Rugby Australia
Oudenryan as I understand was born in NZ and schooled in NZ and his old man has connections with NZ.
Yeah maybe but I am sure his old man will steer him in the quickest rout to test Rugby which probably will be Australia.
He's a born and bred Kiwi, of course he's going to go for the ABs first, hell TKB was born and raised in Oz and was ABs first.
He's not like those other two you Cantabs developed for Australia.
(Although I assume Brial has a Kiwi Mum/Gradnparent considering he played U20s?) -
@Nepia said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@KiwiMurph said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Chris-B said in Blues 2026:
@Chris said in Blues 2026:
@Landers92 said in Blues 2026:
@george33 said in Blues 2026:
James Cameron
Eli Oudenryn signed for Blues.And there goes the odd man out. I know I was talking about it a bit but didn’t expect him to end up with the Blues. What a great signing this is.
It had to Happen to many players in the Crusaders region, Cameron also blocked by A Tuivailala and Cooper Roberts coming through who the Crusaders have invested in.
Good to see both of them get a contract both talented players.Ouderyn looks a very good prospect - big and dynamic - All Black potential. Disappointing to see him go - and doubtless he'll soon be appearing for one of those Auckland teams in NPC.
I hope we've kept the right guys!
Time will tell on Letiu if it is the right choice.
Always the danger Ouderyn will be swooped on by Australia in the near future as well.
Same as Nick Frost and Joe Brial who were both in the Crusaders system also.Slightly different scenario I would have thought
Brial's dad was a Wallaby
Frost is an Aussie who spent all his life in Aus up until leaving school where he then went to the Crusaders and Frost's old man was high up in Rugby Australia
Oudenryan as I understand was born in NZ and schooled in NZ and his old man has connections with NZ.
Yeah maybe but I am sure his old man will steer him in the quickest rout to test Rugby which probably will be Australia.
He's a born and bred Kiwi, of course he's going to go for the ABs first, hell TKB was born and raised in Oz and was ABs first.
He's not like those other two you Cantabs developed for Australia.
(Although I assume Brial has a Kiwi Mum/Gradnparent considering he played U20s?)Brial moved to NZ in 2002 his old man lived in Wanaka for a few years.was schooled in Nz until High school
Joe went back to Sydney for high school then came back.Depends where the quickest path will be to play test rugby where he ends up.
-
@African-Monkey said in Blues 2026:
@zedsdeadbaby said in Blues 2026:
Not sure he has much to do with the old man but I might be wrong
Hope he's a bit tougher in contact than his old man!
hope he inherited some of his old man's speed..
-
@nostrildamus said in Blues 2026:
@African-Monkey said in Blues 2026:
@zedsdeadbaby said in Blues 2026:
Not sure he has much to do with the old man but I might be wrong
Hope he's a bit tougher in contact than his old man!
hope he inherited some of his old man's speed..
He'd be some player if he did lol
-
Malachi Wrampling: a 6 or 8?
After first starting the 2024 NPC season at blindside before ending up playing for the majority of the comp at number 8, Malachi Wrampling’s 2025 NPC season was basically the inverse of the former. This year, Wrampling started his first game of the season at the back of the scrum (Rd. 4 vs. Counties Manukau), came off the bench in his following three appearances, before settling at blindside once again in Waikato’s 3 final games of the season. He would even end up playing at lock in the latter parts of games, as Saifoloi slotted in at 6 when coming off the bench.As I think Wrampling is easily one of the most intriguing prospects running around in NZ Rugby due to his combination of size, skillset and physicality, I thought it would be interesting to try and get a better understanding of why this positional carousel has occurred, and where his (early) future in Super Rugby might lie.
2024: a failed season at 8?
This is starting to feel like I’m emphasizing the same point too many times but just once more: I think a crucial facet of playing at number 8 is the ability to hold onto the ball. While Wrampling had, by a number of metrics, a decent to good season at 8 for Waikato (carry numbers, defenders beaten, post-contact metres gained), it was only when looking at something like ball security that the shine somewhat came off these numbers.If we take the graph on number 8’s ball security from the 2025 season and add Wrampling’s 2024 season, this is where he would end up.
Wrampling struggled to retain possession at number 8 during the 2024 seasonWrampling appears right next to Dom Gardiner, as another player who turns the ball over on regular occasion, once every 7.4 carries in Wrampling’s case. So while he was able to get the ball in his hands on plenty of occasions throughout the season (96 carries to be exact), he turned the ball over 13 times across those carries. That’s over four times as many as Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa this season, from lesser carries (117 to Wrampling’s 96).
2025: a switch back to the blindside
This season, Wrampling has moved back to the side of the scrum, which has coincided with a lesser emphasis on ball-carrying. Interestingly, while this hasn’t resulted in a massive shift in carrying numbers (from 9.6 carries/80 in 2024 to 9 carries/80 in 2025), it has resulted in a rather incredible shift in turnover rate. It looks like Wrampling has worked hard on retaining the ball in contact, as he’s gone from 13 turnovers from 96 carries in 2024 to zero turnovers from 41 carries in 2025.Returning once more to that same graph, Wrampling has transformed his weakness as a secure ball-carrier to one of his foremost strengths, his 2025 season now appearing at the very top of the graph.
The difference a year can make: Wrampling has gone from one of the lowest rates of ball security to one of the highestWhen further comparing Wrampling’s two seasons, it looks like he’s able to do more with less: less minutes and less carries throughout the season but more post-contact metres made and defenders beaten per 80 minutes than before.
Wrampling’s minutes, carries, carries per 80 minutes, metres made and defenders beaten per 80 minutes, carry per turnover rate, tackle attempts per 80 minutes, tackle completion percentage and dominant tackle ratePart of this of course is Wrampling simply maturing and growing as a player. But reading between the lines, it does appear as if the interventionist character of the blindside flanker suits Wrampling’s game. The Hamilton Old Boys loose forward is, first and foremost, an edge forward, someone who looks for mismatches out wide while using his strength and offloading game to break the line. It is more typical of a six to drift in and out of games when opportunity calls, either for an attacking intervention or a big defensive play, rather than the number 8 who typically has to serve as a kind of consistent reference point for the team to rally around. For the moment, at least, it seems as if the positional shift to blindside has benefitted his play.
Filling the Akira Ioane-sized hole at the Blues?
It has been mentioned often enough how the loss of Akira Ioane has left something of a hole in the Blues pack, with Ioane’s ability to dominate the collision unable to be fully replicated by any of the 2025 Blues forwards.It is in this regard that Wrampling’s 2025 season has been interesting to follow. While Wrampling has always been a physical player, he seems to have upped his level of aggression in contact to another level. The Ranfurly Shield game against Southland was a good example of this: while several of his more notorious teammates failed to show up that game, Wrampling was busy trying to bury his opponents. The former Chiefs man put in some more than solid cleans, as he’s gotten into the habit this season of (quite literally) flying into the breakdown.
In the second gif, Wrampling displays his skill in effectively attacking on the edge, offloading deftly in contact before putting in a strong shoulder for the clean
Add to this his ability to dominate the gain line in close-contact carrying, and you’ve come close to finding a player who could potentially fill that Ioane-sized hole.
Wrampling’s main area of improvement will be on the defensive side, both in terms of completion rate (17 misses out of 84 attempts in the 2025 season) and consistent effort. While he’s often able to put in good shots with his shoulder, he can struggle to put in the same energy into his second efforts.
Against Otago, for example, after putting in a big tackle, he went low on Nareki in the next phase, allowing the latter to offload in contact, which eventually led to the Pledger try. And in the second half, Wrampling lost his connection to George Dyer in defence, giving Umaga-Jensen the space to waltz through the midfield and leading to the Lucas Casey-score.
The Waikato defenders consistently tried to wrap up ball and man but Wrampling sees too late that play is switching back in his direction and isn't positioned to make the ball and all tackle
Wrampling again temporarily switches off, losing sight of his inside man, allowing Umaga-Jensen the easy line break
Vern Cotter won’t let him get away with these kinds of things, as the Blues have built a lot of their success of the past two seasons on their defence (2 seasons in a row, least tries conceded in SRP; least points conceded in 2024, 2nd least in 2025). But, looking at Wrampling’s 2024 and ’25 seasons and how he’s transformed his ball security, he’s clearly a player who can improve both considerably and rapidly. If he can get his defence up to speed, then he could become a crucial piece for a Blues forward pack that struggled to dominate the physical contest in 2025 like they did in 2024.
-
@brodean said in Blues 2026:
Thanks Maaus. A loose trio of Papali'i, Sotutu and Wrampling is looking pretty tasty.
Any word on whether Sotutu is sticking around or not?
