All Blacks wing Sevu Reece had his eyes glued to the screen watching the opening round of Super Rugby Aotearoa and a potential match-up he could be facing in a few weeks.
The Crusaders had the bye last weekend while the other four teams got their campaigns underway and Reece admits Blues winger Caleb Clarke stood out in the 30-20 win over the Hurricanes on Sunday.
Reece's analysis of Clarke's play was almost as sharp as the 21-year-old's running lines.
"He's a talented young man and a bloody big boy too, I tell ya that," Reece said.
"He's not going to be easy to stop."
After the opening round of the competition, Clarke leads all players in metres carried with 105m - his next closest contender a whopping 37 metres behind him.
He also picked up a try against the Hurricanes and earned a penalty for his side with some impressive skills shown at the breakdown - attributes Reece suspects come from the youngster's experiences with the All Blacks Sevens.
"He played amazing - got a couple of linebreaks and a try - those kind of guys that play sevens have got the x-factor," Reece said.
"And then they get given the chance to come play 15s and they just unleash."
Reece has a couple more weeks to watch Clarke before the two potentially face off with the Blues and Crusaders not meeting until July 11 in Christchurch.
SHARE ME