Reds v Crusaders
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All Blacks tighthead prop Owen Franks, along with test loosehead Wyatt Crockett who has been ill this week, has been given an early break and they remain in Christchurch, openside flanker Matt Todd won't be risked because he strained a calf in training and No 6 Jordan Taufua has been listed in the reserves.
Not considered because of injury is last week's fullback David Havili, as is openside flanker Jed Brown who took a knock late in the match against the Highlanders. Heiden Bedwell-Curtis will debut for the Crusaders at No 7, while Pete Samu starts at blindside.
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I'm very interested to see how Bedwell-Curtis will go at this level. Had a very good season for the Turbos in 2016.
The omission of Crockett and Todd is understandable; not playing/starting Franks and Taufua gives the impression that they don't see the Reds as a serious opponent. I hope this is not going to be this year's banana skin ...
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Interesting choice to play Samu at 6 and Bedwell-Curtis at 7.
I wonder if they've got that right? From what I know, both are really blindsides, but Samu is a bit smaller and pretty fast - and I'm pretty sure he played openside in the first game didn't he?
Backs look good. Hopefully Razor rolling the dice with the forwards won't come back to bite us. There's a little bit o9f cavalry on the bench if we need it.
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@Chris-B. said in Reds v Crusaders:
Interesting choice to play Samu at 6 and Bedwell-Curtis at 7.
I wonder if they've got that right? From what I know, both are really blindsides, but Samu is a bit smaller and pretty fast - and I'm pretty sure he played openside in the first game didn't he?
Backs look good. Hopefully Razor rolling the dice with the forwards won't come back to bite us. There's a little bit o9f cavalry on the bench if we need it.
Bedwell-Curtis played almost all games for the Turbos at no. 8 and at least one at 6.
Samu was a late injury replacement for Todd in round 1, hence playing openside, but like Bedwell-Curtis mostly played at no. 8 and a few times at 6 for Ta$man. Maybe Robertson concluded from the first game that Samu is not the best of the two at 7; who knows ...With both opensides Todd and Brown injured, at least one of the blindsides will have to play at 7. Taufua will cover all three positions from the bench. According to their Crusaders player profiles, Samu is 1.89m and B-C 1.88m.
Edit: according to his Ta$man profile, Samu is 1.85m tall; the Turbos website gives B-C a height of 1.88m as well.
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@mariner4life it's only the Reds...
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@ACT-Crusader bookmarked
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@Stargazer Bedwell-Curtis' mother must have written his wiki profile - that's got him at 1.94 m.
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@Chris-B. said in Reds v Crusaders:
@Stargazer Bedwell-Curtis' mother must have written his wiki profile - that's got him at 1.94 m.
Maybe he's got a fro?
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@Chris-B. said in Reds v Crusaders:
@Stargazer Bedwell-Curtis' mother must have written his wiki profile - that's got him at 1.94 m.
Or @Canes4life has found someone other than Ardie Savea to pump?
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@broughie always...one of those teams that seems to drag others down if they are in a rut.
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@taniwharugby I wanted to pick the Saders but the Reds forward pack is useful, its at Suncorp, they beat the Sharks and the Crusaders backs are meh especially without Moanga.
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@broughie said in Reds v Crusaders:
@taniwharugby I wanted to pick the Saders but the Reds forward pack is useful, its at Suncorp, they beat the Sharks and the Crusaders backs are meh especially without Mo
a'unga.Yes, a bit of a banana skin game. Like the Blues experienced last year with that draw.
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@Stargazer actually the Reds did beat the Sharks.
