By Charlie Elliott
Blues loose forward Hoskins Sotutu is at the centre of plenty of speculation following his withdrawal from the All Blacks side for the Autumn Internationals.
The main talk is regarding whether he wants a move to a Premiership side in order to get a berth in the England national team.
While his omission has officially been declared as a knee injury, the fact that he has played in four straight weeks of National Provincial Championship (NPC) rugby suggests that there may be more than meets the eye when it comes to his national team situation.
He is eligible for England through his mother, and Fiji through his father. As he has already been capped by the All Blacks, he is required by WRU rules to serve a 36-month stand-down period before featuring for another country.
This period is set to end in November 2025 so he would be unable to feature for England until then.
MVP Season
The 6ft 4 man won the Super Rugby Pacific MVP award for the 2024 season, as his side the Blues won the whole competition and with this still not being enough to receive a call-up from Scott Robertson, he will have wondered if he would ever get a 15th cap for the All Blacks.
This has likely contributed to his decision, with the New Zealand selection committee appearing to have some sort of vendetta against Hoskins.
He won the 2024 MVP with the most tries and assists from a forward (12 and 8), with his 12 tries being the joint most from a forward in Super Rugby Pacific history, tied with Folau Fainga’a, Malcolm Marx and Codie Taylor.
His off-the-ball work was also valuable, with 14 turnovers being won by him amongst other impressive defensive stats.
The wait until eligibility means that now is a perfect time to move over to England and have a year of playing domestically to show why he should be picked in Steve Borthwick’s side by the time he becomes eligible.
There are some doubts about whether he would actually be picked for England if he was to change nationality.
Fitting in to the England team
His position in the back-row is one that is relatively strong for England but definitely has room for improvement.
His most likely way in right now is potentially through the Curry brothers at Flanker, with Tom facing a lot of injuries recently and Ben having never cemented himself in the national team.
If either of these were to slip up, then Sotutu would be a viable option to replace. He would struggle to get in at 8 with Ben Earl, as despite his inconsistency this season due to injuries, Earl is usually a reliable player and has amassed 33 caps for his country so far.
Alex Dombrandt would also be a difficult player to replace in this position, with him being a stalwart for a good Quins side, being named club captain at the start of the season.
All of this would depend on his adjustment to life in England and subsequent Premiership performances, which could go either way and positively or negatively impact his chances.
The two Premiership sides Sotutu is currently being linked to are Saracens and Tigers, with the former seeming like a perfect fit for him to add to their already strong back-row and provide some valuable cover when key players are away for internationals.
If he were to make this move to one of the top Premiership sides, then it would do his England prospects a world of good.
If he were to join a Premiership side, there isn’t one that he wouldn’t improve, and clubs will likely be faced with stiff competition to get his signature.
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