Leon Macdonald was part of the Super Rugby Pacific’s vital act in the Super Rugby Pacific called Black Juggling

Leon MacDonald calls his biggest obstacle the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season in which the Blues are desperate to make the final step up to a championship that has eluded them for two decades.

And the Blues head coach wasn’t talking about the victorious Crusaders, who will surely once again stand between the Auckland-based franchise and their first Super Rugby title since 2003 when they resume competition next month.

MacDonald, a former Pilgrim in his playing days, gathered his full squad for the first time in 2023 with a massive All Black squad hitting the ground running at the Eden Club for the first time on Thursday. With no fewer than 13 who pulled out in the black jersey in 2022 in his group, the coach did not mind admitting the demands of juggling test matches in the year of the World Cup presented a serious challenge for the franchise that went on a 15-match winning streak. streak last year before the Crusaders succumbed in the final at their home.

MacDonald, who confirmed All Blacks No 7 Dalton Pope will lead the side again in ’23, despite the return of former captain Patriick Tuipulotu, deemed it the “biggest challenge for the franchise” presented.

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“Already more this year, it’s going to be stricter, so that faithful players can’t play more than five games (in a row),” he said of the All Blacks’ “management load” requirements. “For a good reason we have a LOT of All Blacks here now, so it’s not a game where you really want any of them to rest. A confident squad is going to be an important event, and the whole squad is ready to go. We did it well this year, and we have to do it again this year.

Macdonald confirmed the five-game maximum before the rest week, now extended to include the quarter-finals and finals, and required even more detail than 2022.

Blues Nepo Laulala, Ofa Tuungafasi, Tuipulotu, Hoskins Sotutu, Papalii, Akira and Rieko Ioane, Beauden Barrett, Fin Christie, Caleb Clarke, Mark Telea, Stephen Perofeta and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who were in the All Black squad last year, as and one or two others who would knock i23.

All but Caleb Clarke were on the training ground on Thursday, although none of the traveling All Blacks were available for the preview opener against the Hurricanes on February 11.

“A lot of our guys will feel like they have to go and prove themselves again,” said MacDonald, who expected a positive spinoff from the Carrot World Cup. “You have to have a good time to progress on that level, to bring a positive edge.”

And the Blues coach signaled that he was very encouraged by the first full training session which saw around 52 players on the park as they were hampered by the return of reinforcements.

“We’re excited about next year, but the title is the ultimate goal,” he said. “The news today is we’re starting again. It was good last year … but we have to go and earn it all over again. There’s no magic bullet for this stuff. We’ve gotten better and better over the years, and we’re trying to do that. If you ever ask the right questions, you’ll get results that you want

Not that in that case the manner of the same Blues. Macdonald confirmed that he is trying “new things” in his quest to take that final step.

“It’s important,” he said of the need to maintain innovation. “If we keep doing what we did last year, maybe we’ll get the same result, which is not the best. We want to find better and different ways to keep it, and with all the Blacks a little late in this journey, it just makes them understand why they do it and what we’re trying to achieve.”

MacDonald is also expecting big contributions from two international fringes Tuipulotu (after a stint in Japan) and winger Mark Telea (who finally got the All Blacks cap on the tour last November).

“Patrick is excited to come back and settle down with his young family in Auckland. There is good energy from him. I think he’s good enough to go to the World Cup, he’s in good physical shape and he’s quite refreshed after a while.

And the coach had already noticed the difference in Telea’s power.

“Like confidence. He’s back and already quite in demand. We’ve had some good reports from the All Blacks about the leadership he’s shown there. Even today he expects high standards from those around him straight away. He’s always the first.

“It’s a good story about a guy who got where he got through hard work. Twelve months ago he couldn’t kick a ball – now he can kick with both feet.