Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

Razor's edge: Why upbeat Blues are preparing for backlash against the Crusaders

(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

By Patrick McKendry, NZ Herald

As a former Crusader and assistant coach at Super Rugby’s most successful franchise, Leon MacDonald knows better than most about the response that could greet his Blues at Eden Park on Friday.

After two rounds the Blues are above the three-time defending champions following a brilliantly composed performance in Newcastle which earned them a 32-12 victory over the Waratahs and an off-key Crusaders fell 25-15 to the Chiefs in Hamilton.

But MacDonald knows his side will have to lift again to face a different type of challenge, one which will almost certainly include the artistry of Richie Mo’unga after Scott Robertson elected to take a cautious approach to the recovery of the All Blacks and Crusaders No.10’s knee and groin strains.

Continue reading below…

ADVERTISEMENT
Video Spacer

The Crusaders will be working hard to fix the uncharacteristic errors which haunted them at Waikato Stadium, a series of mistakes eagerly seized upon by a Chiefs side under Warren Gatland which is playing with an enthusiasm reminiscent of their runs to their 2012 and 2013 titles under Dave Rennie.

Defeats are rare for Robertson, who has encountered only six during his three-and-a-bit seasons with the Crusaders, and they tend to provoke a response.

“That probably adds a bit of flavour,” MacDonald said of the upcoming derby. “I know Razor will do a good job at finding some solutions and probably getting them on edge. They’ve always rebounded well after a loss, especially in Razor’s tenure. We always expect them to turn up with their best and that’s the way we’ve got to prepare.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8X-3_TASyF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

That the Chiefs needed to pull off an extraordinary comeback to beat the Blues at Eden Park in round one may also add a little confidence to MacDonald’s men.

In Newcastle they once again showed their scrum has the potential to hurt teams and with impressive North Harbour wing Mark Telea scoring a hat-trick and No.8 Hoskins Sotutu clearly blessed with a full range of skills – it was his perfect grubber through the defence which allowed Telea to score his first try – the Blues are not short of attacking weapons even allowing for Rieko Ioane’s broken hand.

It was also a far better evening for Blues No.10 Stephen Perofeta and English centre Joe Marchant, who ran an excellent angle on to a well-timed TJ Faiane pass for his first Super Rugby try.

“By and large it was a big step forward, especially with our energy around the field on attack and defence,” MacDonald said. “Our kick-chase was high energy, we contested really well at the wide breakdowns and put a lot of pressure on there. Every time they tried to exit, we were off the line and in their face.

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1226878137759342592

“We showed a lot of tenacity and a little bit of relentlessness which was something we had talked about. That was the most pleasing thing. We stayed with that intensity right to the end. If we have that every week we’re going to be a challenge for anyone.”

Telea’s final try came after the 80 minutes were up and earned his side the bonus point; a case of high ambition being fulfilled via a high standard of execution and the latter isn’t something the Blues have become well known for.

“Mark is a great story – he’s come a long way in a short time,” said MacDonald. “We saw him in Mitre 10 Cup firstly and through pre-season training and he’s in amazing physical condition. He’s a quiet guy by nature but has really come out of his shell the last few weeks.

“It was sitting there ready to come out and it’s always pleasing when guys can show everybody else just how talented they are.”

This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and was republished with permission.

In other news:

Video Spacer
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

F
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
N
Nickers 1 hour 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
LONG READ
LONG READ Freddie Thomas: 'OMFG, I've been selected for Wales - my mum was bawling her eyes out' Freddie Thomas: 'OMFG, I've been selected for Wales - my mum was bawling her eyes out'
Search