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Freddie Burns' ruthless introduction to Richie Mo'unga and the Crusaders

Crusaders' Richie Mo'unga (2nd R) celebrates scoring a try with teammate Braydon Ennor (2nd L) during the Super Rugby match between the Canterbury Crusaders and the Otago Highlanders at the AAMI Park in Melbourne on March 3, 2023. (Photo by William WEST / AFP via Gettys Images)

Crusaders first five-eighth Richie Mo’unga was back to his destructive best on Friday night dominating the Highlanders in a near-record win, rebounding after a shock loss to the Chiefs.

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Mo’unga said he was ‘disappointed’ in himself last week in Christchurch and promptly went about making amends as seven tries piled more misery on the Highlanders in Melbourne.

The Highlanders had fight in the opening stages and trailed by just 10-3 before some Mo’unga magic took the wind out of their sail.

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New English import Freddie Burns showed some class from the boot early as his kicking game helped the Highlanders into some good field positions but it eventually backfired.

A cross-field chip kick by the ex-England first five was partially charged and failed to find a mark, the deflection bounced fortuitously into the hands of the Crusaders’ No 10 who made them pay dearly.

Mo’unga raced down the right touchline, swerving inside Burns’ first tackle attempt before a one-hand fling back inside kept the ball alive. Slick handling by the Crusaders backs saw fullback Fergus Burke finish the end-to-end try.

The counter-attacking brilliance of the Crusaders was a harsh introduction into New Zealand rugby for Burns in his first Super Rugby start after his debut off the bench last week.

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When kicks go array, you don’t want them to find the competition’s most dangerous attacking player.

A rolling maul try on half-time gave the Crusaders a 24-3 lead, but a minute after half-time a set play by David Havili and Mo’unga that targeted Burns in the backfield paid dividends.

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The Crusaders pair combined to show how attacking kicks work in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Crusaders No 12 executed a clever banana kick back across the ruck planned for Mo’unga to chase.

The All Black swooped on the bouncing ball to secure and get it down just before the dead ball line to score a brilliant try.

Burns was the only member of the Highlanders backfield and had tracked over to Havili’s side, opening up the space for the kick over the ruck.

The try wasn’t just Burns fault, the Crusaders planned kick just targeted the weakness in the Highlanders’ defensive system.

It was a ruthless introduction for Burns and the Highlanders must find answers quickly to stop the bleeding with another tough derby up next against the Chiefs.

The 52-15 defeat was just shy of a record losing margin for the second week in a row for the Highlanders.

The opening losses to the Blues and Crusaders sit as the club’s second and third heaviest losses in history, just short of the 43-point loss to the Brumbies in 1996.

“It was awesome to get the win, but more importantly to play some footy,” said Mo’unga of the win.

“The Cheifs played all the footy last week and we wanted to come out and impose ourselves against the Highlanders, so I think we did a good job.

“I was pretty disappointed in myself as a driver last week, not putting ourselves in the right areas of the field, so today is very satisfying.”

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J
JW 3 hours 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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