Coach says there’s ‘a clear candidate' to replace Scott Barrett as captain

The Crusaders will have a new captain in 2025, with assistant coach Matt Todd revealing on Wednesday that there’s “a clear candidate” to step into the role. It was announced this week that Scott Barrett will no longer hold that position at the Super Rugby Pacific club.

“History would say it’s going to be too challenging,” coach Rob Penney explained on Tuesday after the Crusaders unveiled their squad for the 2025 season. Barrett is also the current All Blacks captain which is “a big ask” in itself.

Barrett was appointed as the national team’s skipper in June before a two-match series against England in New Zealand, and the lock has continued to serve in that role since. The 30-year-old recently led the All Blacks to a memorable 23-13 win over Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

But, on top of all the on-field leadership responsibilities as the captain of a rugby team, Barrett has also had to juggle other commitments and pressures. That’s the same at Super Rugby Pacific level, and the Crusaders are wary of managing the second rower’s workload.

While the Crusaders have revealed that veteran players including Joe Moddy, Ryan Crotty and Brodie McAlister have all departed the club, no word on the captaincy has been made as of yet. But the coaching staff seem to have a player in mind to take up that duty next season.

“I wouldn’t say it’s set in stone but there’s probably a clear candidate,” Todd said on SENZ’s Scotty & Izzy.

“In terms of Scoot, when you’re All Black captain, (there’s) obviously a lot of pressure, a lot of mental fatigue as much as physical around the extra workload that you have.

“It’ll be good for him just to focus on playing when he’s at the Crusaders and the captaincy will go to someone else.

“It’s not set in stone but we’ve certainly got a candidate we’re probably leaning towards.”

With a new captain leading the charge, the Crusaders will look to bounce back after an uncharacteristically poor campaign in 2024. They only managed to win four matches across the 14-game round-robin, which saw them finish just outside of a playoff spot in ninth.

The Crusaders’ campaign started with a tense 33-29 loss to eventual runners-up the Chiefs in Hamilton, before the Waratahs, Fijian Drua, Hurricanes and Blues piled on more pain. Their first win came against the Chiefs in March, but it wasn’t exactly the start of a winning run.

While they were able to beat the Rebels 39-nil, the Crusaders only managed that one win through a six-game stretch. They got the better of the Blues 29-27 and Maona Pasifika 43-10 in their final two games of the season, but it still wasn’t enough to see them qualify for the finals.

“Obviously it wasn’t a great year for us last year but it just shows the challenges of Super Rugby, it’s a tough competition,” Todd explained.

“You learn a lot. You learn the importance of the whole management group being on the same page working together, some good lessons from that.

“Just being clear on how we want to play from the get-go and making sure that we put the time in at training so we’ve set the squad up to perform, and pushed them hard enough so that they’ve gone through enough adversity at training that sets them up well for game day.

“There were some good lessons learned from the coaching group and we’re excited about the opportunity that gives us this year to be better. It starts in a couple of weeks when pre-season starts.

“We’ve just got to be clear on how we want to play, be clear on what’s going to be important for us within that and set the team up well.

“Then, I think a big one is when those All Black boys come back, just making sure we get their connection part… really nail those few weeks from when they come into when the season starts because it’s not long once ABs’ boys come back until we’re into it.”