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Crusaders farewell club stalwarts in 2025 squad

Joe Moody of the All Blacks looks on during the 2020 Tri-Nations rugby match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Argentina Los Pumas at Bankwest Stadium on November 14, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Some experienced heads have called time on illustrious Crusaders careers ahead of the 2025 DHL Super Rugby Pacific season.

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Names like Joe Moody, Ryan Crotty and Owen Franks are all absent from the club’s squad naming today, along with notable young guns like playmaker Fergus Burke and hooker Brodie McAlister who is currently with the All Blacks as injury cover.

The 14-time champions have recruited some intriguing talents in their place, including the headline signing of former Wallaby James O’Connor. 2024 New Zealand U20 representative Aki Tuivailala has also been recruited, the versatile back is another Hamilton Boys High product to head south, joining fellow young guns Noah Hotham and Taha Kemara.

Wellington Lions star halfback Kyle Preston is fresh off an NPC title and joins the Crusaders, replacing veteran Willi Heinz in the squad. Xavier Saifoloi is another young prospect to keep an eye on in the loose forwards.

“We’ve got a great group, and all the coaches are looking forward to getting our hands on them and preparing together here at Rugby Park,” said Crusaders Head Coach Rob Penney.

“There is fantastic depth there, and a great mix of experience and youthful energy coming through.

“We’re excited to see what this group can do and build off our 2024 season.”

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Crusaders squad for 2025:

Tamaiti Williams

Fletcher Newell

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George Bower

Kershawl Sykes-Martin

Finlay Brewis

Seb Calder

Codie Taylor

George Bell

Ioane Moananu

Scott Barrett

Quinten Strange

Tahlor Cahill

Jamie Hannah

Antonio Shalfoon

Ethan Blackadder

Christian Lio-Willie

Tom Christie

Cullen Grace

Corey Kellow

Dominic Gardiner

Fletcher Anderson

Savier Saifoloi

Noah Hotham

Mitchell Drummond

Kyle Preston

James O’Connor

Rivez Reihana

Taha Kemara

David Havili

Braydon Ennor

Levi Aumua

Dallas McLeod

Will Jordan

Sevu Reece

Chay Fihaki

Macca Springer

Johnny McNicholl

Aki Tuivailala

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Comments

12 Comments
B
Bruiser 9 days ago

James O'Connor a headline signing?? Desperation signing more like. Surely give younger talent a go

J
JWH 9 days ago

Woulda thought Rivez and Taha would get a go aye?

S
SadersMan 9 days ago

No matter who we recruit, putting them in the hands of Immortal SR Loser Coach Rob Penney will be a bloody underwhelming disaster. Also, why the hell we've employed JOC beats me. Like Penney, he's done nothing of note for years.


I can only hope we achieve above & beyond the Penney factor & that as I write, we are already shoulder-tapping Rangi for 2026 after Penney's contract expires next year. Or before if we show early signs of crashing & burning as in SRA 2024.

J
JW 9 days ago

Could have done with him this year!

J
JWH 9 days ago

I cannot BELIEVE we sold Gallagher 😢and McAlister. Two very talented players sold for no reason. Unbelievable. Kemara & Reihana better step up BIG TIME this season or there will be words, because JOC is rubbish.

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J
JW 44 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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