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After 12 Super Rugby titles, the Crusaders often are a reliable bellwether for the state of New Zealand rugby.
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For that reason their 24-21 loss to the Chiefs in the fourth round of Super Rugby Pacific on Saturday might be an early cause of concern for the All Blacks as they look ahead to a challenging international season.
There were nine All Black in the Crusaders’ starting 15 against the Chiefs, including midfielders David Havili and Braydon Ennor, flyhalf Richie Mo’unga, lock Sam Whitelock and front-rowers Codie Taylor and Joe Moody.
More would have been expected of a team of that strength than it produced.
Several try-scoring chances were bungled by handling errors and there were many more failings, tactical and technical, which have become almost symptomatic of the New Zealand section of the competition.
New Zealand Rugby recent wrote to the New Zealand government appealing for dispensation from COVID-19 regulations which limit crowds to a fraction of a stadium’s capacity. It may be debatable whether crowds would be larger if there were no limitations.
While matches between the New Zealand teams mostly have been close this season, the standard has been poor. Lack of ball retention and control, poor tactical and kicking options have made most matches low on spectator appeal.
The Crusaders conceded the first try of Saturday’s match but rallied to lead 21-10 after 46 minutes. In normal circumstances, the Crusaders would have made that try an exclamation point in the match and gone on to win comfortably.
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But they lost control of the match and spent most of the second half on defence, worn down by the Chiefs who won with two tries in the last six minutes.
“I’m proud of the effort, really proud of the effort and the care the boys showed around the defensive side of it but all of us will be frustrated because 21-10, 20 to go, we just couldn’t get the ball back,” Crusaders coach Scott Robertson said.
“We know the Chiefs are courageous. They were desperate (and) took the opportunities at the end. We could have closed it out and didn’t.”
Maybe just maybe those Crusader ABs just arent good enough and others are now. Did that not occur to you?
So typical of you NZ guys. Your "unbeatable" reputation is in tatters at the moment ... so rather than introspect at your own issues or failings...you blame the Boks for having "forced" you to change your style of play...or insult Bok or Northern Hemisphere rugby as being boring....and yet all your top players want to do...is still play against the Boks.Clearly there a more serious problem with NZ rugby at this time. When you were ranked number one...you never bemoaned everyone else ... the All Blacks just went about their business of winning. Dont make everyone lose the respect we have always had for the All Blacks by blaming others when you have a dip in form.
You mention tactical kicking. I must have nodded off when that happened. All we see these days is "giving the ball back to the oppersition" kicks. Where has the running, passing game gone to? I do agree that allowing more spectators in would make no difference at all, EVEN in Christchurch. Rugby is BOARING. Far too much like Northern Hemisphere rubbish.