Crusaders 2020
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I'd normally be very much opposed to Scott Barrett playing at 6. But it could work for the Crusaders in 2020. Our backrow stocks are so depleted that there isn't anyone who can legitimately lay claim to the no.6 jersey. Ethan Blackadder has been around the squad for a while but is injured, and poor Tom Sanders has hardly set Super Rugby alight thus far during his injury plagued career.
Given we have reasonable depth at lock, with Romano, Dunshea and Strange all quality players at this level, it might just be that getting our best XV on the field means switching Barrett to 6. Other positives include it being potentially easier to captain the team from the side of the scrum than in the engine room, Scott Barrett being a decent ball runner which would balance our backrow and the fact that he's generally been a better lifter than target at lineout time.
Anyway, it's all food for thought. We have more experience and quality at lock than any other position and moving Barrett to blindside might just sure up what will be an extremely green backrow.
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@Cantab79 I'd like to see Dunshea tried in the backrow, before we resort to shifting Barrett.
Aside from anything else - Barrett is the future of our locking stocks, with Romano and Sammy W. getting older, so I'm not convinced using him to block the development of our future loose forwards is a great idea. I think we need to bite the bullet and give Sanders and Blackadder their shots.
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@Chris-B said in Crusaders 2020:
@Cantab79 I'd like to see Dunshea tried in the backrow, before we resort to shifting Barrett.
Aside from anything else - Barrett is the future of our locking stocks, with Romano and Sammy W. getting older, so I'm not convinced using him to block the development of our future loose forwards is a great idea. I think we need to bite the bullet and give Sanders and Blackadder their shots.
Blackadder is pretty much gone for the majority of SR with his Recovery from Shoulder surgery,otherwise he would have gotten first Shot at 6.Therefore the thinking Barrett or Dunshea might get a chance at 6.
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Tom Sanders turns 26 early next season. He's been playing provincial Rugby since 2014 and has been a Super Rugby player since 2016. The time is right for him to step up and show that he belongs at this level. It's now or never. With Blackadder gone, I think it'll be between Sanders and Barrett for the no.6 jersey. Dunshea is quite quick for a tall man, but I'm not convinced he has the mobility to play as a flanker at SR level.
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@Chris said in Crusaders 2020:
Canterbury u/19 Lock Sam Darry is training with the crusaders in pre-season,
some big raps on Sam. At 2.03 Cm he has height.Good to hear, will keep an eye out for him into the future. It's great to have locks who are 2 metre plus in our system. He might struggle to get any gametime this season as lock is one position where we have strong depth. Even with Whitelock missing for Super Rugby season 2020 we still have four high quality locks in Barrett, Romano, Strange and Dunshea.
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@Higgins I agree. Also, it's more indicative of who are considered back-ups of squad members in case of injury, if you look at who's still training with the squad once the ABs have returned from their break, this Monday.
Geoff Cridge and Sam Darry (and other non-squad locks) will only see game time if more than one of the locks in the squad (Barrett, Strange, Romano, Dunshea; maybe Grace) suffers an injury.
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@Chris Sam Gilbert told me he was training before Xmas. He’s only there to make up the numbers until sevu and bridge come back. They do it so they can have live trainings , enough people in the drills etc.
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@chchfanatic said in Crusaders 2020:
@Chris Sam Gilbert told me he was training before Xmas. He’s only there to make up the numbers until sevu and bridge come back. They do it so they can have live trainings , enough people in the drills etc.
That makes lots of sense. Also allows the Super Rugby coaches to get a look at some of these developing players and gets these players familiar with the patterns/calls used by the Crusaders, making it easier for them if/when they do make the step up to SR level.
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@KiwiMurph said in Crusaders 2020:
@Cantab79 All nz franchises do this stuff.
Yes, and they need to given the high injury rate in SR and the relatively small squads. In recent years the Crusaders have always had to bring in players from outside their squad to cover for injury. Sevu Reece in 2019 is a example of our important these players can be in NZ Super Rugby.
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Spoke to a good friend who is close to Scott Robertson last night , apparently Robertson said the process was a complete waste of his time, he got the impression the NZRFU had already well and truly made their minds up.
One particular comment to a question got Scott Robertson’s back up big time and quite frankly I thought as an organisation we were a lot better than this..
He was asked a question in and around his philosophy and the processes he would bring to the All Black coaching role ..after explaining what he would bring to the table, Graham Henry barked across the table in a patronising voice ,“well that’s a real Crusaders way of doing things..!.
Are you bloody kidding me..?, the smug former All Black coach who should never have been on this panel shows his true colours ..I thought we had moved on from this sort of behaviour..
Well Mr Henry the Crusaders way of doing things seemed to work really well under Robertson’s watch 3 x years in a row and he did not have the luxury of having McCaw and Carter..
Just rather confirms to me once again how farcical this process has been..Can you imagine how stupid they are going to look if Robertson leads the Saders to another title and Foster has a shocker in his first dig..!
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@Steven-Harris said in Crusaders 2020:
Can you imagine how stupid they are going to look if Robertson leads the Saders to another title and Foster has a shocker in his first dig..!
Before a ball has been kicked nationally or internationally, the absolute reverse of this is still an option that could happen.
Even as a Chiefs and Waikato fan, I wasn't enthusiastic about Fozzie getting the role and would have been happy for Robertson to get it. However, I will give him a chance to show he has the goods before I cry foul!
We've see this before.... just after the 2007 WC where Henry got the nod again. That didn't go too bad.
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@Steven-Harris Doesn't sound very promising.
I guess one good thing (for now anyway) is that if Foster has a shocker, they've hopefully got Razor in the background as an alternative - where if Razor had got the job, Fozzie would likely have found himself a job in Europe.
I guess Fozzie has been given his chance and I'll reserve a fair bit of judgement until the results start coming in.
After all, I thought Razor was a poor choice as Crusaders'coach and would be a flop.
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@Hooroo listen I have no issue if they had just announced Foster as the new coach even before they had gone to the RWC..it’s just the farcical amateurish behaviour of this process that pisses me off..!
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@Steven-Harris said in Crusaders 2020:
@Hooroo listen I have no issue if they had just announced Foster as the new coach even before they had gone to the RWC..it’s just the farcical amateurish behaviour of this process that pisses me off..!
Yeah, even though it is from his side of the story (who knows how embellished it is) it does sound predetermined from most sources.
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@Steven-Harris said in Crusaders 2020:
Graham Henry barked across the table in a patronising voice ,“well that’s a real Crusaders way of doing things..!.
Just speculating here. I wonder if that is misread, when I interview people I'll often challenge then with off the cuff questions or statements, could this have been Henry trying to see if Robertson could articulate why the Crusaders way was best or to figure out if he had any other options up his sleeve if the Crusaders way fails.
