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Odds stacked against Brumbies in first Crusaders home match since tragic shooting

The Brumbies game against the Reds will have felt like a breeze compared to what's coming up in Christchurch (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

The Brumbies won’t be lacking in effort when they take on the Crusaders after expectations were made “crystal clear” by their Super Rugby coach Dan McKellar.

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The Canberra side will take on the reigning champion Crusaders on Saturday in Christchurch, where they haven’t won in 19 years.

It’s the Crusaders’ first home game since 50 people were killed in a shocking terrorist attack in Christchurch two weeks ago, with the club now mulling a name change.

And making the task even more difficult is that the Brumbies are set to rest Wallabies stars in Scott Sio, Folau Faingaa and Rory Arnold as part of the Test rotation policy, although prop Allan Alaalatoa will return from a wrist injury after missing the past two games.

Gun flanker David Pocock is no certainty to play as he continues to battle a persistent calf problem.

Regardless of the odds stacked against them, McKellar is expecting an improved performance than what his team delivered in their last match, which was a 22-point loss to the Reds.

“It’s pretty crystal clear to this group that effort’s an expectation week-in, week-out, day-in, day-out, so I think we’ll get a reaction,” McKellar said on Wednesday.

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“I think the big thing we lacked against the Reds was just effort and intensity around the collision area and we were out-enthused.

“They ran harder and tackled harder than us and we got what we deserved, so we’re looking to turn that around.”

McKellar said his team had used the bye week to refresh mentally and physically and he would look to replacements to cover their Wallabies to inject some extra energy against the ladder leaders, who have only dropped one game – against the Waratahs.

“It’s a great opportunity for players if it is their first starting game or for anyone who’s had limited minutes off the bench,” he said.

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“It’s a special occasion, the Crusaders in Christchurch and there’s no bigger task in Super Rugby.”

Despite their two-four win loss record McKellar said his group still had belief but just needed to find some consistency in their performances.

“There’s still plenty of confidence and belief in the group,” McKellar said.

“We had a disappointing second-half performance against the Rebels and bounced back well against the Waratahs, so there’s a psychology component to it and that’s our job to make sure that come Saturday afternoon in Christchurch we’re ready to play.”

The Brumbies side to face the Crusaders will be named later today.

– RugbyPass/AAP

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Flankly 1 minute 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 10 minutes 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 39 minutes 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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