Crusaders 2024
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@Duluth said in Crusaders 2024:
Hiring Rob Penney may be the Crusaders' first major mistake in 30 years
Rob Penney's resume had red flags, yet the Crusaders seemed set on appointing a man with Cantabrian connections at any price.
I lost a lot of respect for Colin Mansbridge due to his comments directed at the media.
Good to see respected journalists like Gregor Paul calling it how it is & presenting imformed and reasonable assessments like this.
Honestly, some of the ridiculous cope that the pundits on the Breakdown were spinning for why the Crusaders are underperforming and why Rob Penney "deserves the benefit of the doubt" were utterly delusional. It takes Crusaders supporters for complete fools.
Make all the excuses you want, a team with that much experience & quality should have no excuses being made for them, the Highlanders would dream of having such a roster - the 4th best squad in the competition behind the Hurricanes, Blues, Chiefs.
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Squad
That squad has quality, but much of it hasn't made it onto the field, especially from the spine.
Taylor, Burke, Halfpenny, Jordan all out for the season.
Williams, Havili, and Barrett missing for quite a few games.
Complete rookies at first five who would likely be third choice anywhere else (if selected).
Add in some older heads (Moody) looking uninterested, and some in terrible (early) form (Grace etc) with a start that has very few homes games, and it was a good recipe for the shit season.
I'm not a fan of this coaching team, but this team was always a big question mark after losing Burke with other missing names in the spine.
Edit: I missed a few more injuries of course, such as the injuries to Blackadder, McAlister, Gallagher, even Reihana.
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@gt12 injuries are part of the game, the Hurricanes are down to their 4th/5th Hookers atm, on that note, last year featured the highest injury rate that I can recall as a Crusaders supporter, we were literally on our knees and (almost) didn't even win the competition, O'Keefe helped us in the final.
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@Chris said in Crusaders 2024:
Codie Taylor should be in the 23 this week
Leigh Halfpenny is also available for selection I am not sure they will squeeze him in to the 23.
Ennor back training as I posted earlier and Tamiti Williams back at training.Taylor and Barrett back with Blackadder available and your forwards are a very different proposition.
Think they’ll try Halfpenny at 1st 5? There was talk.
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@gt12 said in Crusaders 2024:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2024:
Codie Taylor should be in the 23 this week
Leigh Halfpenny is also available for selection I am not sure they will squeeze him in to the 23.
Ennor back training as I posted earlier and Tamiti Williams back at training.Taylor and Barrett back with Blackadder available and your forwards are a very different proposition.
Think they’ll try Halfpenny at 1st 5? There was talk.
Not sure about Halfpenny at first five it seems they maybe are now committed to Reihana with Havilli as cover.
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@Chris said in Crusaders 2024:
@gt12 said in Crusaders 2024:
@Chris said in Crusaders 2024:
Codie Taylor should be in the 23 this week
Leigh Halfpenny is also available for selection I am not sure they will squeeze him in to the 23.
Ennor back training as I posted earlier and Tamiti Williams back at training.Taylor and Barrett back with Blackadder available and your forwards are a very different proposition.
Think they’ll try Halfpenny at 1st 5? There was talk.
Not sure about Halfpenny at first five it seems they maybe are now committed to Reihana with Havilli as cover.
That would make sense, especially if the selectors want to see Havili at first.
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The Crusaders, having gone eight years without conceding a try from a rolling maul, had three scored against them in two weeks.
Did they not concede a rolling maul try in Razor's reign? Surely that's hyperbole, I seem to remember the mention of conceding the first rolling maul try of the season last year.
If I am misremembering, that's an amazing stat!
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I wouldn't treat it too seriously. It's a record that they were tracking internally and then told to the media
Some teams then privately suggested journalists look at maul tries they did score against the Crusaders. Even TJ in commentary said that they were being a bit creative in their definition of what was and wasn't a maul try (I presume hookers disengaging just as they crossed the line etc?)
Of course they had extremely good maul defence, far better than any other team though.
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@ruggabee said in Crusaders 2024:
@Duluth said in Crusaders 2024:
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Hiring Rob Penney may be the Crusaders' first major mistake in 30 years
Rob Penney's resume had red flags, yet the Crusaders seemed set on appointing a man with Cantabrian connections at any price.
Make all the excuses you want, a team with that much experience & quality should have no excuses being made for them, the Highlanders would dream of having such a roster - the 4th best squad in the competition behind the Hurricanes, Blues, Chiefs.
Bang on mate, yes they’ve had a bad run with injuries but I’ve never seen a fan base put all their losses on injured players instead of just admitting they aren’t good enough this year/aren't coached well enough this year.
Every other super rugby team goes through injuries every year, the crusaders have it this year but can still manage to field more All blacks than some super sides, you can add in all All black XV players they have in their squad too. Completely agree about no excuses.
Granted, losing Burke was a dagger as behind him they are all unknowns. Everywhere else the depth is more than fine.
Ps. This is in no way a stab at crusaders fans but I have no doubt it will be taken as one😂
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@Landers92 said in Crusaders 2024:
@ruggabee said in Crusaders 2024:
@Duluth said in Crusaders 2024:
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Hiring Rob Penney may be the Crusaders' first major mistake in 30 years
Rob Penney's resume had red flags, yet the Crusaders seemed set on appointing a man with Cantabrian connections at any price.
Make all the excuses you want, a team with that much experience & quality should have no excuses being made for them, the Highlanders would dream of having such a roster - the 4th best squad in the competition behind the Hurricanes, Blues, Chiefs.
Bang on mate, yes they’ve had a bad run with injuries but I’ve never seen a fan base put all their losses on injured players instead of just admitting they aren’t good enough/aren't coached well enough.
Every other super rugby team goes through injuries every year, the crusaders have it this year but can still manage to field more All blacks than some super sides, you can add in all All black XV players they have in their squad too. Completely agree about no excuses.
Granted, losing Burke was a dagger as behind him they are all unknowns. Everywhere else the depth is more than fine.
Ps. This is in no one a stab at crusaders fans but I have no doubt it will be taken as one😂
I actually think you are right and I am a staunch Crusaders supporter.
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Crusaders wider training group prop Kershawl Sykes-Martin facing a few weeks suspension after a brain explosion coming off the bench in Christchurch club rugby playing for Marist Albion over the weekend, throwing multiple punches at a Sumner forward resulting in a Red Card.
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From facing the haka to Crusaders return, why Johnny McNicholl answered SOS call
Returning Crusader Johnny McNicholl is determined to showcase his worth; a seasoned professional who wasn’t even supposed to be in Christchurch in the first place.
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Things are bad when even Robert van Royen is putting the boot in
Their backline is as clunky as the 2016 Crusaders, their error-count would be frowned upon if they were a schoolboy team, their lineout is like watching a slow-motion train-wreck, and asking them to exit their half effectively is akin to asking them to split the atom.
