Super Rugby Pacific: Caleb Clarke urges Blues to embrace ‘us against the world’ spirit

Thursday, 11 June 2026

Blues wing Caleb Clarke says his struggling team has to thrive as underdogs in the Super Rugby semifinal in the capital.

In a week where hope is the prevailing emotion for a Blues team facing a rugby version of Mission Impossible in the capital, All Blacks wing frontrunner Caleb Clarke shines like a beacon as a purveyor of possibility.

Nobody, outside of the Blues’ tight circle and possibly the paid-up membership of their fan club, believes they can win Saturday night’s historic Super Rugby Pacific semifinal against the red-hot Hurricanes at the Cake Tin.

Why would they?

The Blues, somehow, head into the semifinal riding a four-game losing spiral that has seen them concede 194 points, at 48.5 a pop, and 30 tries. Their defence is as robust as a chocolate teapot, and their attack has been sporadic, at best. Don’t even mention discipline, the collisions and set-piece execution.

On the other hand, the Canes are flying, and fresh off a 66-12 dismantling of the Brumbies in a sodden qualifying final that was awe-inducing in its precision. If you cast aside the meaningless regular season finale defeat at the Crusaders with a second XV, the men from the capital have won their last six with an average score of 48.5 points, including a 47-24 demolition of the Blues at Eden Park.

So, who better for an upbeat appraisal of visiting prospects than their most optimistic and downright ebullient character who might also embody their only real chance in this contest. If the Auks are to cause one of the biggest upsets in Super Rugby playoff history, they are going to need game-changers such as Clarke to unleash something special.

Believe it or not, the 33-test powerhouse All Black not only backs his Blues to spring that monumental upset, but has both a precedent for it and a piece of motivational advice that captures their predicament perfectly.

Caleb Clarke will hope to find some defensive mismatches against the in-form Hurricanes on Saturday night.

“For me it’s that same feeling we had in the ‘23 World Cup where it’s just us against the world,” he tells The Post. “No one believed we were going to get to the final. No one believed in how good we were. That’s how I see this team as well.”

A free swing even?

“Everyone is writing us off. But we back ourselves. Dalts (injured loosie Dalton Papali’i) put it really well: you don’t have to be the best team in the world; you just have to be the best team on the night. That’s what we believe.

”We’ve spoken about how a lot of the pressure will be on them. But that’s pressure from the outside. We have to put pressure on ourselves to perform and play our game. They go hand in hand: yeah, we’re underdogs, but we have to put in a performance we’re proud of.”

But even Clarke is realistic enough to concede the Blues, who welcome Beauden Barrett back off the injured list, need to make serious shifts to live with the Hurricanes

He talks about starting and finishing games with “Blues energy” and playing a style “that’s Blues DNA”. That, he says, “gives us hope, knowing what we can do if we stick to our processes. We know when it’s going right we’re hard to stop.”

The problem, of course, has been the big chunks in the middle of games where teams have steamrolled the Auks. Errors have compounded, accuracy has dropped off, confidence has waned and scores have been run up.

“We can’t let individual lapses happen,” adds Clarke. “That’s how the Crusaders scored easy tries (in a 52-31 qualifying final defeat) – off easy turnovers, missed tackles and penalties. If each person does their role in every moment we’ll be in the fight for the whole 80, and not just the first 20. We can’t let the game get away from us.”

Clarke, meanwhile, is relishing the matchup against a form Canes back three with at least two, maybe three, in contention for the All Blacks’ July squad. He’s well aware this is the time of the year national coaches watch closest.

“That’s why I put so much pressure on myself to perform. I want to take my opportunity,” he says. “I love that competition, and over that 80 minutes it’s the battle within the battle.

“There are so many great wings, so many great competitors. But they’re good friends as well. It’s exciting for me to put my best foot forward, and at the same time to rub shoulders with players who have different games and you can learn from as well.”

He’s also rapt to see much-talked-about national contender Fehi Fineanganofo back on the park as starting left wing. “Another Auckland boy as well,” he smiles. “I played a lot against his brother, Melino, back in high school. It’s an exciting time.”