Blues coach John Kirwan has dropped flyhalf Chris Noakes and brought back the impressive Simon Hickey for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Toyota Cheetahs on Saturday.
Hickey is one of two changes to the Blues for the game, the other being Charles Piutau moving from left wing to fullback, meaning league convert Benji Marshall will drop to the bench.
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“I thought he came on last week and really showed some spark,” Kirwan said of Hickey when speaking to the New Zealand Herald.
“I’m going to pick on form and he’s on form at the moment so he’s getting a start.”
Referring to Marshall’s demotion, Kirwan said the League star needed to learn positional play a bit better before commanding a starting role.
“Just a little bit of positional stuff, I thought for him on attack he was outstanding, he just needs to keep learning that positional play and back at fullback that’s not easy to do but he’ll pick it up.”
All Blacks Ma’a Nonu and Jerome Kaino move to the Reserves bench, returning from injury.
“Our bench has been pretty good coming on so far, but I was looking at it today and it’s a pretty special bench. With Ma’a and Jerome in there it certainly gives us confidence to use it.”
Blues: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Frank Halai, 13 George Moala, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Peter Saili, 7 Luke Braid (Captain), 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Liaki Moli, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 James Parsons, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Angus Ta’avao, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Jerome Kaino, 20 Hayden Triggs, 21 Bryn Hall, 22 Ma’a Nonu, 23 Benji Marshall.