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Taylor targets Super Rugby title after signing long-term NZ Rugby deal

Owen Franks, Codie Taylor and Joe Moody

Codie Taylor is determined to celebrate signing a new long-term New Zealand Rugby contract by inspiring Crusaders to a first Super Rugby title for nine years.

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The hooker on Friday became the first All Black to commit to the world champions until 2021 on the back of starting all three Tests in the drawn series with the British and Irish Lions.

Taylor, who has won 19 caps, had no doubts about remaining in his homeland as he eyes glory for club and country.

“I feel like I am living the dream at the moment, raising my young family here in New Zealand and playing for these teams that I love, so recommitting through to 2021 just makes sense for me,” Taylor said.

“I am grateful to everyone who has shown faith in me and allowed me to get this far with my rugby career, and I want to continue repaying them by playing the best rugby I can here in New Zealand for a while yet.”

Taylor will have a key role to play when Crusaders attempt to beat Lions in their own backyard in Saturday’s Super Rugby final and the 26-year-old is relishing the challenge.

“They’re a good team and they went to their strengths in that second half [of the semi-final] and kept the Hurricanes guessing and it paid off for them so for us it is about playing the game we’ve been playing all year.” he said.

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“We like to apply pressure in different areas and hopefully we can exploit a few of theirs. It’s going to be an 82-minute game, it’s not going to go 80, it’s probably going to go longer than that.

“We’ve just got to be prepared for anything and work really hard to get the job done.”

 

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Nickers 21 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.

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