All Blacks coaching legend hits out at Springboks\u2019 \u2018against the spirit of the game\u2019 tactics and urges Scott Robertson\u2019s side to \u2018give it to them\u2019<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThis wasn\u2019t on the bingo card for 2025, but here we are,\u201d Sopoaga said on social media with reference to him joining Waikato for their 2025 NPC campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuess we running it back then or maybe I should run and get some dye first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aaron Cruden to start at 10 for Waikato<\/p>\n
Sopoaga will be Waikato\u2019s back-up fly-half with another All Blacks playmaker 50-Test veteran Aaron Cruden wearing the number 10 jersey against Auckland on Thursday.<\/p>\n
With Lienert-Brown being ruled out of action, it means that seven of All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson\u2019s current squad will be in action in the NPC\u2019s opening round.<\/p>\n
In other action, utility back Ruben Love will be available for Wellington\u2019s home clash with Canterbury while hooker Brodie McAlister will be in the visitors\u2019 ranks.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Otago will be able to call on the services of number eight Christian Lio-Willie when they take on Southland in Invercargill.<\/p>\n
Speedster Emoni Narawa and prop Pasilio Tosi will be available for Bay of Plenty when hosting Tasman at Tauranga Domain on Sunday. Utility back Timoci Tavatavanawai will be available for the visitors in that encounter.<\/p>\n
And flanker Dalton Papali\u2019i is expected to feature for Counties Manukau for their clash with Hawke\u2019s Bay at McLean Park in Napier on Sunday.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/b> Carlos Spencer\u2019s blunt verdict on Tony Brown coaching the Springboks and South Africa\u2019s absence from Super Rugby<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former All Blacks fly-half Lima Sopaoga has made a return to New Zealand after an eight-year absence and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[225,704,12,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-305051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-home-page","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114944590784816481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}