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Jack Goodhue lines up alongside 20-year-old debutant in his 50th match

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The Crusaders have resumed training this week following the bye, and head coach Scott Robertson has named his side to host the Reds in Christchurch on Friday night.

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There is only one change to the forward pack that started against the Highlanders two weeks ago, with Captain Scott Barrett returning to lead the side, following the knee injury he sustained against the Blues in round three.

In the backs, Ereatara Enari earns his first start of the 2020 season and, with both Braydon Ennor and David Havili being rested this week, there is a reshuffle in the backs which sees George Bridge move to fullback and Leicester Faingaanuku promoted to a starting spot on the left wing.

20-year old Dallas McLeod will make his Super Rugby debut on Friday night, when he lines up in the midfield alongside Jack Goodhue, in what will be Goodhue’s 50th appearance for the Crusaders.

Kick off in the Crusaders match against the Reds is 7:05pm, Friday 6 March at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch.

Crusaders: George Bridge, Sevu Reece, Jack Goodhue, Dallas McLeod, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Richie Mo’unga, Ereatara Enari, Tom Christie, Tom Sanders, Cullen Grace, Mitchell Dunshea, Scott Barrett, Michael Alaalatoa, Codie Taylor, Joe Moody. Reserves: Brodie McAlister, George Bower, Oliver Jager, Luke Romano, Sione Havili, Mitchell Drummond, Brett Cameron, Manasa Mataele.

– Crusaders Rugby

WATCH: Crusaders assistant coach Andrew Goodman ahead of Friday’s match.

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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
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