West gets his chance for Blues
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Livewire flyhalf Ihaia West will make his first Super Rugby start when the Blues take on the Hurricanes at Eden Park.
It has been a remarkable rise for the Hawke’s Bay and former New Zealand U20 playmaker who was brought into the Blues squad last month following the season-ending injury to Baden Kerr.
West's arrival also coincided with the departure back to rugby league of Benji Marshall who could not successfully make the switch to union.
“What we’ve been impressed with is his calmness under fire,” Blues head coach Sir John Kirwan said of 22-year-old West.
“He’s come in and been thrown in the deep end and said ‘bring it on’ so he deserves his start.
"We really think he could be an influential player in the future of this franchise like Simon [Hickey] so we’ve got two very good young men in our squad and it’s no secret that we are looking for someone to step into that role.
“Both those young men have certainly put their hands up but I think with Ihaia getting a start this week we just want a little bit more attack and he’ll bring that to us.”
George Moala is named on the left wing ahead of Tevita Li who has been stood down for a breach of internal team protocol, while veteran scrumhalf Piri Weepu has overcome a groin strain to be named on the bench.
Consecutive defeats to the Chiefs and Sharks in recent weeks has opened up a gap between the bottom placed Blues and the rest of the New Zealand Conference as they currently sit 11 points off front runners the Crusaders and 10 points behind the second placed Hurricanes.
However Kirwan believes his side is not far away from clicking.
“We’re five per cent off and we have lost to the first team and what was the second team last week when we probably should have won so they are good signs.
"The team is heading in the right direction, we’re just not winning games which has put us under pressure.”
However Kirwan hasn’t given up hope of his side making the playoffs and knows the formula is simple – win the last four games of the season.
“We’re definitely in playoff mode, we can’t drop a game,” Kirwan said.
“If we want to achieve what we set out to achieve we can’t drop a game so it’s a big ask but it’s quite exciting at the same time.”
Blues: 15 Lolagi Visinia, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Pita Ahki, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 George Moala, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Bryn Hall, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Luke Braid, 6 Peter Saili, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 James Parsons, 17 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 18 Angus Ta'avao, 19 Hayden Triggs, 20 Steven Luatua, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Simon Dickey, 23 Albert Nikoro.
Date: Saturday, May 30
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-off: 5.35 (07.35 GMT)
Referee: Garratt Williamson
Assistant referees: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), Mike Lash
TMO: Glenn Newman
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