Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Key All Blacks remain absent as Crusaders name team to take on Reds

(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

The Crusaders will once again have to manage without the services of Codie Taylor and Richie Mo’unga when they take on the Reds in Christchurch this weekend.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hooker Taylor and first five-eighth Mo’unga both missed last weekend’s comfortable 61-3 victory over the Fijian Drua due to injury and will now sit out a second week on the trot – but coach Scott Robertson has revealed that the two All Blacks are likely to be back on deck for next weekend’s quarter-final.

Mo’unga’s absence has once again been filled by Fergus Burke, who was one of the star performers in the big win over the Drua, while Brodie McAlister, who hasn’t featured since the Crusaders’ Round 2 clash with the Highlanders, will make a welcome return from injury in the No 2 jersey in place of Ricky Jackson.

Video Spacer

Predicting the Super Rugby Pacific play-offs.

Video Spacer

Predicting the Super Rugby Pacific play-offs.

McAlister will be joined in the front row by George Bower and Oli Jager while the experienced duo of Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock will partner up in the locks.

Ethan Blackadder is the sole loose forward survivor from last weekend but shifts from number 8 to the openside flank. Pablo Matera will play at blindside flanker while Cullen Grace will wear the No 8 jersey.

Bryn Hall gets his fifth start in a row at halfback and will partner Burke while David Havili comes into the side in place of Jack Goodhue, who will miss this weekend’s match.

In the outside backs, Leicester Fainga’anuku and Sevu Reece retain their spots on the wing, with Will Jordan resuming his usual spot at fullback ahead of Chay Fihaki.

ADVERTISEMENT

Jackson, Finlay Brewis, Tamaiti Williams, Zach Gallager and Tom Christie have been named as the forward reserves for the match while Mitchell Drummond, Fihaki and George Bridge will cover the backs.

All in all, Robertson has made nine positional changes to the side that ran out against the Drua last weekend.

“Richie’s had a finger injury that we felt like another week would be the best for it – just like Codie,” Robertson said of his injured All Blacks. “Just make sure they rest up and get as much recovery time as possible.

Related

“We had a discussion. If he was required, he could play. Ferg was pretty awesome the week before … It speaks for [Mo’unga’s importance] and his injury to make sure we give him an extra week.

ADVERTISEMENT

“[Taylor] could have played this weekend as well. That was a relief when the medical said he could play but Brodie McAlister’s back – he’s come back from a long-term injury. It’s timely for us. He’s a hell of a player.”

While the Crusaders have locked up a home quarter-final, they need a victory against the Reds to guarantee themselves hosting rights for a semi-final, should they progress to that stage of the competition. As such, all focus remains on this Friday’s fixture.

“Looks like we’ll have a good occasion on Friday night and a good crowd coming in,” Robertson said. “Full respect, last time we played them they were a team that pushed us – just their style, the way they played. When they’re on, they’re good. They’ve got enough game-breakers so full respect in our preparations this week.”

Friday’s match is set to kick off at the later time of 7:35pm NZT.

Crusaders: Will Jordan, Sevu Reece, Braydon Ennor, David Havili, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Fergus Burke, Bryn Hall, Cullen Grace, Ethan Blackadder, Pablo Matera, Sam Whitelock, Scott Barrett, Oli Jager, Brodie McAlister, George Bower. Reserves: Ricky Jackson, Finlay Brewis, Tamaiti Williams, Zach Gallagher, Tom Christie, Mitchell Drummond, Chay Fihaki, George Bridge.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

G
GrahamVF 32 minutes ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

"has SA actually EVER helped to develop another union to maturity like NZ has with Japan," yes - Argentina. You obviously don't know the history of Argentinian rugby. SA were touring there on long development tours in the 1950's

We continued the Junior Bok tours to the Argentine through to the early 70's

My coach at Grey High was Giepie Wentzel who toured Argentine as a fly half. He told me about how every Argentinian rugby club has pictures of Van Heerden and Danie Craven on prominent display. Yes we have developed a nation far more than NZ has done for Japan. And BTW Sa players were playing and coaching in Japan long before the Kiwis arrived. Fourie du Preez and many others were playing there 15 years ago.


"Isaac Van Heerden's reputation as an innovative coach had spread to Argentina, and he was invited to Buenos Aires to help the Pumas prepare for their first visit to South Africa in 1965.[1][2] Despite Argentina faring badly in this tour,[2] it was the start of a long and happy relationship between Van Heerden and the Pumas. Izak van Heerden took leave from his teaching post in Durban, relocated to Argentina, learnt fluent Spanish, and would revolutionise Argentine play in the late 1960s, laying the way open for great players such as Hugo Porta.[1][2] Van Heerden virtually invented the "tight loose" form of play, an area in which the Argentines would come to excel, and which would become a hallmark of their playing style. The Pumas repaid the initial debt, by beating the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park, and emerged as one of the better modern rugby nations, thanks largely to the talents of this Durban schoolmaster.[1]"


After the promise made by Junior Springbok manager JF Louw at the end of a 12-game tour to Argentina in 1959 – ‘I will do everything to ensure we invite you to tour our country’ – there were concerns about the strength of Argentinian rugby. South African Rugby Board president Danie Craven sent coach Izak van Heerden to help the Pumas prepare and they repaid the favour by beating the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park.

152 Go to comments
J
JW 6 hours ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

I rated Lowe well enough to be an AB. Remember we were picking the likes of George Bridge above such players so theres no disputing a lot of bad decisions have been made by those last two coaches. Does a team like the ABs need a finicky winger who you have to adapt and change a lot of your style with to get benefit from? No, not really. But he still would have been a basic improvement on players like even Savea at the tail of his career, Bridge, and could even have converted into the answer of replacing Beauden at the back. Instead we persisted with NMS, Naholo, Havili, Reece, all players we would have cared even less about losing and all because Rieko had Lowe's number 11 jersey nailed down.


He was of course only 23 when he decided to leave, it was back in the beggining of the period they had started retaining players (from 2018 onwards I think, they came out saying theyre going to be more aggressive at some point). So he might, all of them, only just missed out.


The main point that Ed made is that situations like Lowe's, Aki's, JGP's, aren't going to happen in future. That's a bit of a "NZ" only problem, because those players need to reach such a high standard to be chosen by the All Blacks, were as a country like Ireland wants them a lot earlier like that. This is basically the 'ready in 3 years' concept Ireland relied on, versus the '5 years and they've left' concept' were that player is now ready to be chosen by the All Blacks (given a contract to play Super, ala SBW, and hopefully Manu).


The 'mercenary' thing that will take longer to expire, and which I was referring to, is the grandparents rule. The new kids coming through now aren't going to have as many gp born overseas, so the amount of players that can leave with a prospect of International rugby offer are going to drop dramatically at some point. All these kiwi fellas playing for a PI, is going to stop sadly.


The new era problem that will replace those old concerns is now French and Japanese clubs (doing the same as NRL teams have done for decades by) picking kids out of school. The problem here is not so much a national identity one, than it is a farm system where 9 in 10 players are left with nothing. A stunted education and no support in a foreign country (well they'll get kicked out of those countries were they don't in Australia).


It's the same sort of situation were NZ would be the big guy, but there weren't many downsides with it. The only one I can think was brought up but a poster on this site, I can't recall who it was, but he seemed to know a lot of kids coming from the Islands weren't really given the capability to fly back home during school xms holidays etc. That is probably something that should be fixed by the union. Otherwise getting someone like Fakatava over here for his last year of school definitely results in NZ being able to pick the cherries off the top but it also allows that player to develop and be able to represent Tonga and under age and possibly even later in his career. Where as a kid being taken from NZ is arguably going to be worse off in every respect other than perhaps money. Not going to develop as a person, not going to develop as a player as much, so I have a lotof sympathy for NZs case that I don't include them in that group but I certainly see where you're coming from and it encourages other countries to think they can do the same while not realising they're making a much worse experience/situation.

152 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING The Waikato young gun solving one of rugby players' 'obvious problems' Injury breeds opportunity for Waikato entrepreneur
Search