After a very slow start to the 2014 Super Rugby season the Crusaders continued their recent winning ways in Christchurch on Saturday. In beating the Brumbies 40-20, the Crusaders recorded their fourth win in a row and moved to second in the New Zealand conference with a game in hand, however that win came at a cost.
On Thursday afternoon, when the Crusaders team was named, I, along with a majority of NZ rugby fans, was excited to see Richie McCaw named in the starting 15, after missing eight games because of a fractured thumb sustained in the third round against the Blues.
I wasn’t only excited about the return of McCaw, I was even more excited that McCaw had been named as blindside flanker and Matt Todd had been named as openside flanker. Finally, after weeks and weeks of waiting, the rugby viewing public was going to be given a chance to see the much anticipated McCaw/Todd combination.
And for 1:51 the combination worked beautifully. Then Todd was injured and McCaw went back to his more traditional openside flanker role. Todd is expected to be out for a month, so maybe after the June tests there will be a chance to see this combination at work. Unless of course one of them gets injured. Again.
The first 20 minutes of the game were costly for the Crusaders as far as penalties went with injuries not only to Todd, but also to Kieron Fonotia (hamstring) and to Tom Taylor (concussion). Even with injuries to key players, the Crusaders got on with the job and had what was certainly their most complete performance at AMI Stadium in 2014.
A few weeks ago the Crusaders were being called the ‘Highlanders of 2014’ (in reference to the Highlanders poor showing in 2013), and a lot was being made of the fact they could potentially miss the play-offs for the first time in 13 years. But now, after successfully beating the Chiefs at home, winning 2/2 in South Africa and beating the Australian conference leaders, the Crusaders are suddenly being touted as possible competition winners.
Colin Slade is one player who has made a real difference of late. In the past he would tend to get injured only to come back and be injured another couple of weeks later. The stop-start-stop-start didn’t give him enough chance to gain consistency in his play, but it seems that after an injury-free run with the Crusaders he is finally back to his best, displaying the type of form that put him in the black jersey in 2010 and 2011.
With Daniel Carter out of the June tests because of his sabbatical, a lot has been said about whether it will be Beauden Barrett or Aaron Cruden who is given the honour of wearing the All Blacks #10 jersey, but I think Colin Slade deserves that jersey just as much as Barrett or Cruden. His goal kicking statistics are the highest out of the three, but not substantially with Slade on 75.8%, Barrett on 74.2% and Cruden on 71.9%. The All Blacks squad should be named in approximately three weeks and it is going to be very interesting to see who the selectors pick.
If anything, the Crusaders performance on Saturday showed exactly WHY they are still – and always will be – title contenders. It’s not something they physically do on the field, it’s not one particular player, it’s not one particular position… it is their ability to stay calm under pressure and to adapt their game as required.
When Todd went down, followed by Fonotia and then Taylor, the Crusaders had to adjust their game plan. No team plans to have half of their bench emptied within 20 minutes of kick off, but that is precisely what happened to the Crusaders. Did it phase them? No.
When Willi Heinz had to come on for Colin Slade toward the end of the game and then had to kick a conversion from the sideline did he falter or try to pass the kicking duties on to someone more experienced (such as Israel Dagg)? No. He lined the ball up, kicked it and successfully converted… it was a kick that even the most seasoned regular goal-kicker would struggle with.
Then there was McCaw. As I stated earlier it was his first match back from a two month injury layoff, and it has to be imagined that he was going to be given 50-60 minutes on the field before being replaced. A way to wean him back in. But with Todd going down at 1:51 and Jordan Taufua going on to replace him, suddenly McCaw was faced with a full 80 minutes on the field. Not only did he survive the 80 minutes, he made 20 tackles in that time. The next closest was Slade on 12.
So what did McCaw have to say about being back on the field? Un-surprisingly he was very upbeat, being quoted in an interview saying “I woke up with an excitement I haven’t had for a while… I was sick of training, it was a lovely sunny day, great for rugby. I absolutely loved running around out there and when you get a win it makes it enjoyable too” (The Press, 13 May 2014).
Before Super Rugby takes a break for the June internationals the Crusaders have games against the Reds (away), Sharks (home), Highlanders (away) and Force (home). It may be to their benefit to be playing the Sharks and Force (two of the strongest teams this season) at home, because everyone knows the Crusaders are hard to beat at home (let’s just forget the fact the Chiefs won in Christchurch earlier this season)!
I did wonder if perhaps I was being one-eyed in my belief the Crusaders can go all the way in 2014 and come out as Super Rugby 2014 champions, however a text message from a very staunch Highlanders fan – who is very anti-Crusaders – made me realise that perhaps I am not being one-eyed after all.
That fan? My dad. When the Brumbies were playing the Chiefs he text me to ask who I thought would win. I suggested that it would be good for the Crusaders and Highlanders if the Brumbies won as it would give our teams a better chance of moving up in the NZ conference. His reply? “The Crusaders don’t need any help, they are going to win the trophy this year”.
It is instilled in us from a very young age that everything our parents say is the truth, therefore, if my dad says the Crusaders are going to win the competition this year, it must be the truth! Crusaders in 2014.
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