Crusaders 2018

[Billy Tell]

Happy enough with that squad. Only hope Delaney is there for a mentoring role and not to actually play any games...

[cgrant]

Harsh for Bedwell-Curtis who was very good during the 2017 SR season. Otherwise, I am rather happy with this squad. It looks stronger than the former.

[Crucial]

@billy-tell said in Crusaders 2018:

Happy enough with that squad. Only hope Delaney is there for a mentoring role and not to actually play any games...

Yep, exactly the situation with Kirkpatrick at the Blues. The young 10s will all benefit from having these guys run behind them at training pointing out options.
They may not be the best playing 10s but are the type that generally make good coaches and squaddies.

[Crash]

This is what I like to see - back to business as usual

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/99396021/sweat-set-to-flow-as-crusaders-launch-into-preseason-training-ahead-of-super-rugby-title-defence

[Stargazer]

Crusaders Knights squad 2018:

Player - Province
Ryan Coxon - Ta$man
Harrison Allan - Canterbury
Samuel Matenga - Canterbury
Blair Prinsep - Ta$man
Nathan Vella - Canterbury
Sam Moli - Ta$man
Hamish Dalzell - Canterbury
Ben Morris - Canterbury
Will Tucker - Canterbury
Te Ahiwaru Cirikidaveta - Ta$man
Tom Christie - Canterbury
Anty Burnett - Ta$man
Dylan Nel - Canterbury
Sam Godwin - Canterbury
Ryota Hasegawa - Crusaders IHPU
Jack Grooby - Ta$man
Harrison Kirk - Canterbury
Jonny Van der Valde - Canterbury
Brett Cameron - Canterbury
Rameka Poihipi - Canterbury
James Hawkey - Ta$man
Dallas McLeod - Canterbury
Ngane Punivai - Canterbury
Rupena Parkinson - Ta$man
Tima Faingaanuku - Ta$man
Leicester Faingaanuku - Ta$man
Takuya Yamasawa - Crusaders IHPU
Tomas Aoake - Ta$man
Zach McKay - Canterbury
Jamie Spowart - Ta$man

Crusaders Knights schedule 2018:

Sunday 25 February: v Hurricanes, 1pm at Linfield Park, Christchurch
Saturday 10 March: v Highlanders, 1:30pm at Linfield Park, Christchurch
Saturday 17 March: v Highlanders, 5pm at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin

https://crusaders.co.nz/news/1173-19-new-names-in-2018-crusaders-knights-squad

[Stargazer]

The Crusaders Knight suffered a big loss to the Canes Development team this afternoon: 36 - 71

[Chris B.]

@stargazer Wow - I think I saw the two teams earlier and thought the Crusader Knights looked significantly stronger!

[cgrant]

Is there a video of the game ?

[taniwharugby]

haha, liked this:

"I managed to bench press 40kg, six times. That was my max," Romano said. "And then he wanted me to do some chin-ups, and I was sort of hanging off the bar. He was like 'righto, you can start doing a chin-up' and I was like 'I have been trying for the last 10 seconds'.

But even better is one of the comments, which is surely trolling!

Pom of Britain
Well, a pretty poor player by international standards. I know he struggles when he faces forward packs from the north as he can't handle their physicality. He is not very strong and his mobility is very poor. Not a strong scrummager either so he doesn't make a good lock. Wouldn't sniff the England team.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/101911602/late-bloomer-luke-romano-morphs-from-skinny-little-white-boy-to-all-blacks-lock

[Stargazer]

The Crusaders will play the Western Force on 22 June in Perth.

[Stargazer]

More details:

 The Crusaders will play in a series Aussie billionaire Andrew Forrest has organised for axed Super Rugby club the Western Force this year.

World Series Rugby will pit seven teams against the Force with the Crusaders slated to play on June 22 in Perth during the international window.

Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Hong Kong, the Rebels and a Japanese team make the other opponents.

There are also dramatic new rules, including a try being worth 10 points and a time frame for scrums and lineouts.

 WSR invitational matches in 2018

May 4 v Fiji

May 13 v Tonga

June 9 v Rebels

June 22 v Crusaders

July 13 v Samoa

Aug 10 v Hong Kong

Aug 17 TBA

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12007898&ref=rss

[mariner4life]

Why do Australians hate rugby so much?

[pukunui]

Some power houses of rugby there, the series the rugby world ha sbeen waiting for.
I hope the crusaders are getting paid a lot for this game.

[pukunui]

@mariner4life said in Crusaders 2018:

Why do Australians hate rugby so much?

Im surprised they haven't come up with a rule where the Australian team's tries are worth 10 and the other team's are worth 2. Would work much better.

[ACT Crusader]

@mariner4life said in Crusaders 2018:

Why do Australians hate rugby so much?

Trying to hoodwink AFL supporters. Well start to see scores reported as

Crusaders 4 (tries) 3 (conversions) 46 defeated
Force 2 (tries) 1 (conversion) 22

[antipodean]

World Series Rugby. God what a spanker.

[Stargazer]

Crusaders Knights team v Highlanders Bravehearts (Saturday 10 March, k/o 1.30pm @ Linfield Park, Christchurch)

1 Tim Perry
2 Brendan Asomua-Goodman
3 Reuben O'Neill
4 Quinten Strange
5 Hamish Dalzell
6 Ethan Blackadder
7 Anty Burnett
8 Tom Sanders
9 Jack Stratton (C)
10 Brett Cameron
11 Tima Faingaanuku
12 James Hawkey
13 Braydon Ennor
14 Caleb Makene
15 Mark Maitland

Reserves
16 Nathan Vella
17 Harry Allan
18 Blair Prinsep
19 Ben Morris
20 Sam Godwin
21 Jonny Van der Valde
22 Tomas Hanham-Carter
23 Takuya Yamasawa

Tim Perry and Tom Sanders in the squad, so should be close to full fitness and available for the Crusaders soon.

[Chris B.]

@stargazer Those two are good news.

Interesting that Ethan Blackadder is playing 6 for the Knights and Bedwell-Curtis is at 6 in the main team!

Still no sign of Will Jordan or Mitch Dunshea!

[akan004]

@chris-b Don't understand why Blackadder is not there ahead of Bedwell-Curtis. He was impressive at the Brisbane 10s and was outstanding for Ta$man.

[Chris B.]

@akan004 Yeah - it's a bit odd that someone is preferred for the squad, but not for the team.

Maybe they just think the team is a bit short-handed, so it's better to use the guy who's been there and done it, rather than a debutant.