Crusaders vs Highlanders pre-season

[Chris B.]

@Kiwiwomble Game of two halves - and four teams?

I think Romano looked quite instrumental in the second half performance - Crusaders came out with a lot more second half urgency.

Highlanders II didn't really look at the races, much like Crusaders I.

Cameron was pretty good!

Segner a couple of good lineout takes and appeared to pack at 8, despite wearing 6 (didn't look natural there).

That really was an impressive run by Williams and nearly as good from Newell.

[Stargazer]

@Chris-B said in Crusaders vs Highlanders pre-season:

On right now. How come @Stargazer doesn't have 10 posts on a thread already!!!

Too much in awe of Fabulous Fakatava!

[Stargazer]

Scorers:

[Chris B.]

@Stargazer I am appalled that it is me who has effectively had to kick off the new season!

[Stargazer]

Can someone tell me what put the Crusaders offside several times in the first half. I think at least 3-4 of the penalties against them came from offside calls, but I couldn't see what happened. It had to do with the Highlanders kicking?

[Stargazer]

Typical preseason game, with lots of adjusting to do to the referee's calls, especially around the ruck. Not surprised by the high number of penalties; it's always like that. Can't say much about such games; they're a means to get rid of rust and give players game time who won't play too much during the season, unless there are many injuries.

Players who looked good during this game:

Highlanders: Fakatava, Coltman (except for some bad line-out throws in the beginning of the 1st half), Mitch Hunt, Nareki. Connor G-B looked promising.

Crusaders: Romano, Tavatavanawai, Leicester Fainga'anuku, big Tamaiti Williams, S Havili.

[Chris B.]

@Stargazer Dunno - I think they got pinged a couple of times for players in front of the (Crusaders) kicker failing to retire.

Can't really recall the instances with the Highlanders kicking.

[Stargazer]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/300227939/another-crusaders-casualty-takes-gloss-off-thrilling-win-over-highlanders

A potentially serious injury to tighthead prop Oli Jager has taken the gloss off the Crusaders' last-minute 28-26 come-from-behind win against the Highlanders in their pre-season opener.

Jager was helped off the Temuka turf in the second half of the fixture on Friday evening, and was unable to put any weight on his left-foot after the match.

Highlanders locks Josh Dickson (head knock) and Bryn Evans (ribs) were the only injury concerns for the visitors, but neither are expected to be sidelined for long.

[Stargazer]

Haven't seen a highlights clip, so posting a link to photos instead:

Getty Images

[Kiwiwomble]

@Stargazer yeah, if anyone sees highlights please share the link

[Kiwiwomble]

this seems to be working currently, don't know if it will stay up

[Stargazer]

@Kiwiwomble Geoblocked, at least in NZ.

[Kiwiwomble]

having watched the first half, Fakatava was really running the show, great too see

[Duluth]

[Chris]

@Kiwiwomble said in Crusaders vs Highlanders pre-season:

this seems to be working currently, don't know if it will stay up

Awesome Cheers for that @Kiwiwomble