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2014 Super Rugby: Crusaders vs Hurricanes (Round 7)
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RyotoTheDragon
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what a try by leiua!
Chikwa
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Neither of them are doing particularly well this season .
Haha, finally. Our outside backs looked good (even Andre Taylor is starting to hit a little bit of form!). Leiua's try was crazy good - ganna be hard to replace him when he goes to Wasps (and Lam when he goes to Bristol...).
I thought Barrett had another good game. At times his kicking was a bit 50/50 but overall it was good. Peranara also looked to be hitting some form.
Overall I can't complain - but I have to say the Crusaders have looked very bad. It seems ridiculious Nafi Tuitavake is starting games while Israel Dagg doesn't really seem to offer anything at the moment...The Crusaders are just...blunt. Nadolo looked good at least.
I thought Barrett had another good game. At times his kicking was a bit 50/50 but overall it was good. Peranara also looked to be hitting some form.
Overall I can't complain - but I have to say the Crusaders have looked very bad. It seems ridiculious Nafi Tuitavake is starting games while Israel Dagg doesn't really seem to offer anything at the moment...The Crusaders are just...blunt. Nadolo looked good at least.
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And he will go to England to play for London Irish, right?
What a waste for Canes!
Leiua is playing well but will not be a huge loss. We already have Savea, Jane, Proctor and Taylor which is enough talent for a back 3. As good as that try was, international quality fullbacks have to make that tackle.
Darwin
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Overall an excellent result for the Canes. 5 points sees them shoot up the table to 5th. Conversely the the Crusaders slip down to 13th with their South African tour coming up. If there wasn't pressure on the Crusaders before there certainly is now!
The Crusaders attack started to click at times, but it was their defense this week that really let them down. It wasn't just one player either - everyone in the side seemed to missing 1-on-1 tackles. They conceded 4 tries, and were lucky not concede a 5th, with Savea's second try ruled out because of a forward pass.
Thrush and Levave were the pick of the Canes forwards for me for different reasons. Thrush has a big work-rate and was accurate in everything he did while Levave was incredibly destructive (though did miss a few tackles). Savea and Leiua were the pick of the backs - I have never really rated Leiua that highly, but he scored one of the best individual tries you will ever see. Taylor looked dangerous at fullback too, while Bateman slotted in well at 12.
The Crusaders froward pack as a whole did pretty well, but their weren't many individual standouts. The back-line looked better on attack this weak, but some of the defense was poor. Ellis created a lot with ball in hand but he was probably the biggest culprit on defense. Crotty was the pick of the backs for me - every week he seems to be one of the only Crusaders backs capable of breaking the line. I thought Nadolo made an excellent impact too, and he looks in far better condition than I was expecting. Though I remain unconvinced with Nadolo I think the Crusaders have no option but to start him - defensively he probably won't be any worse than Tuitavake who seems to cost the Crusaders a try every match by drifting in-field off his opposite wing. Guildford should be starting too, but I feel I'm a bit of a broken record on this. McNicholl scored two tries, but I'm starting to believe I was wrong about him. He still didn't look overly comfortable with the physicality at this level, and he was one of those guilty of missing Leiua on the way to his try. Dagg looked dangerous a couple of times (when he hit the line from first receiver), but apart from that you wouldn't have guessed he was an All Black fullback...
The Crusaders attack started to click at times, but it was their defense this week that really let them down. It wasn't just one player either - everyone in the side seemed to missing 1-on-1 tackles. They conceded 4 tries, and were lucky not concede a 5th, with Savea's second try ruled out because of a forward pass.
Thrush and Levave were the pick of the Canes forwards for me for different reasons. Thrush has a big work-rate and was accurate in everything he did while Levave was incredibly destructive (though did miss a few tackles). Savea and Leiua were the pick of the backs - I have never really rated Leiua that highly, but he scored one of the best individual tries you will ever see. Taylor looked dangerous at fullback too, while Bateman slotted in well at 12.
The Crusaders froward pack as a whole did pretty well, but their weren't many individual standouts. The back-line looked better on attack this weak, but some of the defense was poor. Ellis created a lot with ball in hand but he was probably the biggest culprit on defense. Crotty was the pick of the backs for me - every week he seems to be one of the only Crusaders backs capable of breaking the line. I thought Nadolo made an excellent impact too, and he looks in far better condition than I was expecting. Though I remain unconvinced with Nadolo I think the Crusaders have no option but to start him - defensively he probably won't be any worse than Tuitavake who seems to cost the Crusaders a try every match by drifting in-field off his opposite wing. Guildford should be starting too, but I feel I'm a bit of a broken record on this. McNicholl scored two tries, but I'm starting to believe I was wrong about him. He still didn't look overly comfortable with the physicality at this level, and he was one of those guilty of missing Leiua on the way to his try. Dagg looked dangerous a couple of times (when he hit the line from first receiver), but apart from that you wouldn't have guessed he was an All Black fullback...
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You and me both. I do wonder how he'd perform for another team, the Chiefs, Blues or Hurricanes, for example. That being side, for many years Crusaders players got free rides into the All Blacks because they were part of a dominant team, when really they didn't belong anywhere near a black jersey (Ralph, Hamilton, Blair), so I guess it's only fair that good players are being hindered now
Yeah I thought Nadolo did well with the ball he had, first two runs he got through a lot of tackles. But someone needs to tell him NO MORE GRUBBER KICKS. Just keep running, take the tackle or pass it
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Which players would you see gone?
dasNdanger
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The ones who are under-performing.
Sitting here half a world away I just don't know what the problem is. Gena_ZA said they look lazy this season, and I agree. I thought they looked that way early last season, too, but they bounced back and eventually did quite well. I doubt they're going to bounce back this time, unless they change their attitude. They just don't have the fire they've had in the past. Which makes me wonder if there's some locker room issues going on - the team just doesn't seem to be gelling this year, making me wonder if there's some personality clashes amongst the players. I hope not, but when a team that's supposed to be on top is sitting near the bottom it can stir up a lot of finger-pointing in the locker room, and that's never good for team spirit.
das
austingtir
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Blackadder is just a **** coach end of. They have a decent enough group of players its his job to get them to perform, while i dont think they have the players atm to win a championship they should certainly not be on the bottom of the NZ conferance... but with this conferance system always one or two decent NZ teams are going to be the whipping boys.
