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Overlooked Crusaders' back row play their part in stunning the Blues

(Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

The Crusaders loose forward unit was overlooked by the All Black selectors but they played their part in upsetting the Blues at Eden Park, who had three All Black loosies in the gameday 23 in Akira Ioane, Hoskins Sotutu and Dalton Papalii.

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Cullen Grace, Tom Christie and Ethan Blackadder, who was already ruled out with a season-ending injury, were all missing from Ian Foster’s All Black squad named on Monday as the selectors preferred other options.

Crusaders No 8 Grace was pushing for a recall after being selected in the squad in 2020 and debuting that year off the bench against the Wallabies in his lone test appearance to date.

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The 22-year-old came up with two turnovers against the Blues in the final, both of which were line out steals against the malfunctioning Blues set-piece. He finished with 12 tackles in a performance Scott Robertson described as worthy of an All Black.

“I think just how heavy his shoulders are, how hard he hits,” Robertson said of Grace.

He just keeps getting up. His skillset’s strong. He’s a great player. I’m just really proud of him.

“Did a lot of work with him, look after the loosies, and to see him perform like that over the last couple of years… Obviously didn’t make the All Blacks after making it [in 2020], he took it hard and he just really focussed on playing well.

“But playing at a final level and coming off with an All Black performance, I thought it was.”

It was also a memorable night for Argentinian blindside flanker Pablo Matera who came up with the play of the night when he put through a grubber kick in-behind the Blues. Sevu Reece claimed the loose ball and scored the try to seal the game.

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Scott Robertson revealed he had told Matera to put away the kicking game after a moment earlier in the season didn’t come off, but was happy his international recruit kept the option available.

“He did one [grubber] earlier in the year – I think it under the roof [against] the Highlanders and it was like oof,” Robertson said.

“I said ‘Look, might just have to put that away’, And he’s, ‘Yes, yes, yes, I won’t do one again’. Then I just said ‘Mate, good on you, you trusted your instinct.’

“That was world-class, wasn’t it? Just the weight of it and [how] it landed. He pretty much can do whatever he wants now.”

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Matera was the captain of the Jaguares side that made the Super Rugby final in 2019 but the 19-3 loss to the Crusaders dashed his championship dreams.

A driving factor in wanting to join the Crusaders was the chance to win a trophy for the first time in his life, as the 2019 final was the closest he has got to winning a championship.

His Super Rugby Pacific final was in doubt after he earned two yellow cards in the semi-final against the Chiefs, but he was free to play after escaping a suspension from the judiciary.

“Him playing this game’s huge for us. We didn’t have too many loose forwards left, really, did we, with injuries and Ethan out,” Robertson explained.

“Him to play, never won anything… When we had the conversation when he rang from France he said ‘Look, I want to come over and win a championship – I’ve never won anything’.

“He’s obviously won one test match against the All Blacks which is a euphoric moment but for him to win a championship… He wanted to win and learn and make a better life for his family and he’s done that over this period of time.”

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1 Comment
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spady 885 days ago

Pablo should definitely sign for crusaders again next season. What an asset

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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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