Originally ruled out for 6-7 weeks with a knee injury, Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu seems to have made a miracle recovery to make the starting XV for the Super Rugby Pacific final against the Chiefs on Saturday.
The veteran lock has been named to lead his team onto a soldout Eden Park, despite hobbling off early in their quarter-final win Fijian Drua two weeks ago. At the time, he was ruled out of the remainder of the competition, as well as upcoming All Blacks fixtures against England and Fiji.
He was replaced by Sam Darry for last weekend's semi victory over ACT Brumbies, but will pack down alongside Darry against the Chiefs.
"Patty's a Blues man, through and through, and came to us this week pretty keen to play in a Grand Final," said Blues coach Vern Cotter. “He tested the knee on Monday in the gym, then on the grass yesterday.
"He's pulled up well and has the all-clear from our medical team - he's a welcome addition to our pack, our talisman lock and leader."
Tuipulotu captained the Blues to victory over the Highlanders in the 2021 Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final, but missed the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific final loss to the Crusaders, while on sabbatical in Japan.
He brought up a century of games for the Auckland franchise this season, but spending much of his career on losing teams, until the arrival of Leon MacDonald as coach in 2019.
"Patty felt good on Monday and, with strapping found, he was able do everything rugby related with minimal symptoms," said Blues doctor James McGarvey. "Given it’s a final, he decided to try to work through the week and play."
The only other change to the Blues line-up sees Bryce Heem return from a calf injury to a place on the bench.
Blues: 1-Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 2-Ricky Riccitelli, 3-Marcel Renata, 4-Patrick Tuipulotu (c), 5-Sam Darry, 6-Akira Ioane, 7-Dalton Papali'i, 8-Hoskins Sotutu, 9-Finlay Christie, 10-Harry Plummer, 11-Caleb Clarke, 12-AJ Lam, 13-Rieko Ioane, 14-Mark Tele'a, 15-Stephen Perofeta
Reserves: 16-Kurt Eklund, 17-Joshua Fusitu'a, 18-Angus Ta'avao, 19-Josh Beehre, 20-Adrian Choat, 21-Taufa Funaki, 22-Bryce Heem, 23-Cole Forbes
Meanwhile, Tyrone Thompson has been brought into the Chiefs No.2 jersey, after the loss of All Blacks hooker Samisoni Taukei'aho to an Achilles injury durin their semi-final win over the tabletopping Hurricanes.
Replacement Bradley Slater had to battle through the game until finally succumbing to concussion near the end, but has against been named on the bench for the final.
Thompson's addition is the only change from coach Clayton McMillan, although he was forced into a late change, when fullback Shaun Stevenson scratched from the semi. Stevenson returns in the No.15, Etene Nanai-Seturo to the wing and Daniel Rona to the bench.
Chiefs: 1-Aidan Ross, 2-Tyrone Thompson, 3-George Dyer, 4-Jimmy Tupou, 5-Tupou Vaa'i, 6-Samipeni Finau, 7-Luke Jacobson (c), 8-Wallace Sititi, 9-Cortex Ratima, 10-Damian McKenzie, 11-Etene Nanai-Seturo, 12-Rameka Poihipi, 13-Anton Lienert-Brown, 14-Emoni Narawa, 15-Shaun Stevenson
Reserves: 16-Bradley Slater, 17-Jared Proffit, 18-Reuben O;Neill, 19-Manaaki Selby-Rickit, 20-Simon Parker, 21-Xavier Roe, 22-Quinn Tupaea, 23-Daniel Rona
Join Newshub at 7pm Saturday for live updates of the Blues v Chiefs Super Rugby Pacific final
