7 hours ago
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Stefano Utoikamanu has revealed that a 'really stupid' error saw him miss his flight from Victoria to New South Wales and resulted in him arriving late for the Blues' Origin camp on Monday.
It comes as the 25-year-old prop has retained his position in Laurie Daley's side for the State of Origin decider on July 9, despite calls for him to be replaced by in-form Rabbitohs star Keaon Koloamatangi.
The Blues arrived in Sydney earlier on Monday to complete their pre-game media obligations but several members of the squad were absent.
Payne Haas stayed behind in Brisbane to receive treatment on a back injury, while Bradman Best was returning from Hamilton Island after announcing he and Kayla Fenech were expecting a baby last week.
Utoikamanu, though, revealed that he had misread his flight details and was forced to make alternate travel plans.
'Not a good way to start. It was something really stupid,' the prop, who came off the bench during the Blues' State of Origin II defeat.
Stefano Utoikamanu (pictured with his partner Chiara) has revealed he misread his bording pass and missed his flight up to Sydney for the Blues' State of Origin III camp
He still arrived in Sydney to conduct his media duties after his partner drove him to catch another flight out of Tullamarine airport
'I looked at my flight and it said 10am departure, but for some reason, I thought it meant 10am boarding time.
'I was getting ready to leave about an hour before and I looked at my flight details again.'
The prop forward was then dropped off at Tullamarine airport by his partner.
'I had to call Frank [Frank Ponissi the Blue's team performance manager] and told him I was going to miss my flight. It was pretty crazy and my head is still rattled,' the 25-year-old added.
'I thought I was going to come here and do two interviews, but I ended up doing a lot. I'm still rattled and feel bad that I missed my flight.'
'I had a pretty good run with the traffic, but I didn't want to risk trying to get there and then missing the flight because that would have made it worse,' he said.
'That flight ended up getting delayed by about 20 minutes, so I think I would have made it anyway.'
The 6ft 4in forward would make an impressive 22 tackles during State of Origin II despite only spending 27 minutes on the footy pitch.
The 6ft 4in forward (right) would make an impressive 22 tackles during State of Origin II despite only spending 27 minutes on the footy pitch
'I feel like coming off the bench is a good role for me going into Origin, and I've learnt from that (first) game and I'm pretty excited,' Utoikamanu said.
'I'm going to stick to my strengths - I know I'm a strong ball carrier, and in defence just make my tackles - making sure I win my tackles is probably the main thing, and that's what I'm looking to do.'
Speaking on the Blues' State of Origin II defeat, he added: 'First half we kind of got blown back a bit, but I feel like we had a pretty good second half and came back and anything could have happened.
'We're pretty happy with the second half. We know that our discipline needs to be better, and if our discipline's good we have a good chance of winning that game.'
