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Crusaders set to farewell a trove of players on Saturday night

Kieran Read. (Photo by Martin Hunter/Getty Images)

The Crusaders say the departure of a group of cherished players will have them playing with the same sort of emotion the Jaguares are likely to bring to the Super Rugby final in Christchurch.

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Short-priced favourites to claim a third title on Saturday and a 10th in total, the Crusaders are wary of the sort of passion the underdog South Americans will bring to their maiden appearance in the decider.

While the Crusaders are renowned for their methodical, almost tunnel-vision approach, flanker Matt Todd said the looming last game for a number of acclaimed teammates will play a part this week.

Japan-bound All Blacks captain Kieran Read is the longest serving departee, having debuted in 2007.

Midfield back Ryan Crotty, prop Owen Franks and flanker Jordan Taufua have all notched a century of games in red and black while Todd himself has yet to commit to next season.

Captain Sam Whitelock is also taking next year off under a sabbatical in his NZ Rugby contract but will return in 2021.

Last year’s side didn’t have the same post-season cleanout although players admitted they had been inspired to win for retiring prop Wyatt Crockett, the most capped player in Super Rugby.

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Todd said sadness enveloped the team on Tuesday when Crotty was ruled out of the final with a fractured thumb suffered in last week’s 30-26 semi-final win over the Hurricanes.

“You’re gutted for him. It was his last game for us and he’s a massive part of the Crusaders. And I know how much the Crusaders mean to him,” Todd said.

“You hurt for him but he’s still around the team and as positive as ever so that will be on our minds through the week.”

Crotty and fellow-All Black Scott Barrett (finger) are both missing and likely to be replaced in the starting side by newly selected All Blacks back Braydon Ennor and lock Mitchell Dunshea respectively.

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Todd expected the newcomers to step in seamlessly.

“You can’t replace world class players just like that,” he said.

“But we trust the whole squad. Everyone’s had opportunities this year and they’ve performed so I guess you plan for that all year.”

– AAP

WATCH: Matt Todd discusses how the Crusaders will handle their latest injury setbacks

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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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