The cold, hard truth of the matter is that with the deepest respect to Francis, he's not up to the job of being the Blues' chief playmaker. Whether Northampton had come knocking for him or not, the Blues were going to be actively searching for a seasoned No10 to guide them through next year. But the Blues aren't set up the way Umaga would like and Francis has taken the No10 jersey by default. He's not necessarily worthy of it but he's more worthy than Umaga's other choice - Ihaia West. And he needs that time because he could be the Blues No1 first-five next year.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 21, 2017 19:18 UTC