2021 Crusaders
-
Despite Blackadder looking dazed and struggling to get to his feet, he left the paddock and passed his head injury assessment, Hansen confirmed. However, the Crusaders will play it safe and sit him for at least one week. “[He was] good off the field. He texted him mum and dad to make sure they knew he was alright. Good young man, he will be back on the field soon,” Hansen said.Tom Sanders, who fractured his cheek in an inter-squad match last month, has returned to training in a limited capacity, leaving Whetukamokamo Douglas as the frontrunner to replace Blackadder. -
This is the Crusaders Development XV that is currently playing the Highlanders Bravehearts.
Oliver Jager is back playing.
Crusaders Development XV to play Highlanders Bravehearts:
1 Isileli Tu’ungafasi
2 Shilo Klein
3 Oli Jager
4 Will Tucker
5 Caleb Aperahama
6 Te Ahiwaru Cirikidaveta
7 Mitch Gibson
8 Matt Letoga
9 Ereatara Enari
10 Brett Cameron
11 Manasa Mataele
12 Tim O’Malley
13 Isaiah Punivai
14 Cam Bailey
15 Josh McKayRESERVES:
16 Sam Stewart
17 Conan O’Donnell
18 Tamaiti Williams
19 Antonio Shalfoon
20 Liam Allen
21 Braden Stewart
22 Luke Donaldson
23 Alex Harford
24 Taine Robinson
25 Tahu Kaa
26 Rico Syme -
Apart from Ennor and Bridge who is currently injured and for how long out?
-
@billy-tell Blackadder and Sanders. Also Makalio.
-
@billy-tell Easy to find on the injuries list: https://www.thesilverfern.com/squads
Still have to remove Jager from the injuries, but add Christie from tonight.
-
-
@stargazer said in 2021 Crusaders:
I'm trying to figure out who a certain player is, but my memory is completely failing me. Who's the player to the right (in last year's away jersey opposite Blackadder)? I also see Brendon O'Connor in that clip.
That’s Tom Saunders
-
-
@mofitzy_ I think he has been better in black than people are giving him credit for. They magnify a missed tackle in the SF against England, and forget the things he's done well (including a brilliant tackle on Kolbe in the first RWC pool match).
Mo'unga himself has said that he plays best when he gets freedom and can play what's in front of him, so reasonably unstructured rugby. I'm not overlooking his work-ons, but I think the ABs coaching & game plans, being chained to a (too) dominant BB behind him, maybe having the wrong players around him, may have something to do with how he has played for the ABs as well. I'd love to see how he plays in black when he's unleashed, with players like Havili & Jordan next to and behind him.
-
There is an article on stuff today about how he plays best when he's under presssure. Personally this is something I haven't really seen at test match level. It seems to be whenever we have a tough game he makes multiple mistakes in his kicking around the field.
I don't have too much of a problem with his tackling. Any first five will probably miss a few, but it really is a momentum killer when you finally get a penalty to get out of your half, only to boot it dead.
-
@bobily2 said in 2021 Crusaders:
I don't have too much of a problem with his tackling. Any first five will probably miss a few, but it really is a momentum killer when you finally get a penalty to get out of your half, only to boot it dead.
To be honest - I don't have much problem with that (Richie kicking the ball dead).
He's very, very aggressive/ambitious with his line kicking from penalties (Mitch Hunt equally so).
I think that philosophy comes from Razor. You're so much better off having a lineout five metres out than 10 metres out - every metre further is exponentially less likely to score from a lineout drive.
The flip side of that is that you're going to miss touch more frequently - than someone who is equally accurate, but more conservative. But, your team is going to score more tries when you hit.
It reminds me of those old days in rugby league where they'd get a penalty and basically boot it parallel to the tryline, because of how frightened they were of missing touch.
Brain dead.
I presume they've worked out that it's better to miss one in 10 and go 40 metres downfield with 9 others? I hardly watch league these days.
-
@bobily2 said in 2021 Crusaders:
There is an article on stuff today about how he plays best when he's under presssure. Personally this is something I haven't really seen at test match level. It seems to be whenever we have a tough game he makes multiple mistakes in his kicking around the field.
I think he may actually play well under pressure at test level, if he's not restrained too much by the game plan/structures imposed by the coaches. He didn't have that freedom for the ABs most of the time. I think we can only know how well he plays at test level, if they change that (and as I said, a few different selections around him). "Mo'unga unleased" is definitely something I'd like to see, but don't think it's going to happen under Foster.
