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Crusaders reveal Scott Barrett injury, name team to face top dog Hurricanes

Sevu Reece of the Crusaders. Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

The Crusaders are reeling after suffering their third straight loss to start the Super Rugby Pacific season and will be without their captain Scott Barrett for six weeks thanks to a fractured finger.

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The injury list for the team already includes All Blacks Tamaiti Williams, Ethan Blackadder, and Braydon Ennor in addition to absences from Codie Taylor, Fergus Burke and Leigh Halfpenny. Will Jordan was ruled out of the season entirely.

There were plenty of potential changes new coach Rob Penney could make, with promising youngsters fighting for promotion and experienced All Blacks capable of moving around as the team continues to deal with the injuries.

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A familiar front row in George Bower, George Bell and Fletcher Newell will be put to the test against a powerful Hurricanes unit at scrum time, backed up by Quinten Strange and Zach Gallagher in the second row.

The loose forwards feature young Dominic Gardiner, tackle machine Tom Christie and one-time All Black Cullen Grace.

Willi Heinz returns to the starting unit at halfback, partnering with Riley Hohepa who steps in for his first Crusaders start.

Penney will be looking to David Havili to bring composure to what has been an uncharacteristically shaky backline, with the All Black named at 12 inside new import Levi Aumua.

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The back three sees Macca Springer, Sevu Reece and Chay Fihaki bring finishing prowess out wide.

There’s no sign of recent signing Johnny McNiccholl just yet, but the Welsh international fullback has touched down in Christchurch ahead of the team’s first home game of the season on Friday night.

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Crusaders team to face Hurricanes

  1. George bower
  2. George Bell
  3. Fletcher Newell
  4. Quinten Strange
  5. Zach Gallagher
  6. Dominic Gardiner
  7. Tom Christie
  8. Cullen Grace
  9. Willie Heinz
  10. Riley Hohepa
  11. Macca Springer
  12. David Havili
  13. Levi Aumua
  14. Sevu Reece
  15. Chay Fihaki

Reserves

16. Ioane Moananu
17. Finlay Brewis
18. Owen Franks
19. Jamie Hannah
20. Tahlor Cahill
21. Mitch Drummond
22. Ryan Crotty
23. Dallas McLeod

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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LONG READ Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline? Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?
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