SuperRugby: Crusaders v Reds. 06/05/2012

[Draggs]

Christchurch Stadium, Christchurch - 05:10 GMT, 06/05/2012

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[Larksea]

crusaders will put the reds in their place

 

[Hulk Hogan]

crusaders will put the reds in their place

I remember everyone said something like that last year too.... and the 4 times before that..... In fact the Crusaders haven't beaten the Reds in a trial or game since 2009 if I recall correctly.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Crusaders need to play better than they did last week. Couldn't really finish off a pretty average Waratahs outfit. Reds played poorly last week while winning too so this one will be a good contest. I expect it to be close whichever way it goes.

 

[Larksea]

I remember everyone said something like that last year too.... and the 4 times before that..... In fact the Crusaders haven't beaten the Reds in a trial or game since 2009 if I recall correctly.

when the reds are at their best it's close, heck it was only one bad ref call last year (so glad dickenson is nowhere to be seen this year) and the Crusaders would have won the last two and (IMO with fibnals home advantage) be current super rugby champs. But that's with the reds at their best - call it how you want but they are far off that right now. outside Genia and higginbotham they were pretty ugly against the blues last weekend.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

It's all a clever ruse by the Reds to lul everyone into a false sense of security.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

I remember everyone said something like that last year too.... and the 4 times before that..... In fact the Crusaders haven't beaten the Reds in a trial or game since 2009 if I recall correctly.

cue "but bryce lawrence cheated" comments

 

[smartcooky]

cue "but bryce lawrence cheated" comments

Nah. Neither of these teams are South African!

 

[Leper messiah]

Victory

Congrats reds! Stellar performance, I think we all all know who the better team was on the night despite the final bell.

 

[nickdnz]

Congrats reds! Stellar performance, I think we all all know who the better team was on the night despite the final bell.

Mmm, the team with the most points.

 

[smartcooky]

Congrats reds! Stellar performance, I think we all all know who the better team was on the night despite the final bell.

Err, sounds like sour grapes to me.

IMO, they were pretty evenly matched. Reds were superior at the breakdown and at the line-out, while the Crusaders had better discipline and gave the Reds a scrummaging lesson they won't soon forget.

The penalty Horwill gave away in the second half right on his own goal-line could, and should, have resulted in a yellow card. He deliberately tackled the Crusader's player from an offside position, and intentionally went offside for that purpose. A deliberate infringement is foul play, and foul play that prevents a probable try from being scored can be ruled a penalty try. Horwill and the Reds were very lucky they only gave up three points.


The Reds seem to have this knack of positioning a player where the tackle is going to be, and having him already in the gate to go for the ball the moment the tackled player hits the deck. Just to digress a moment, this is what Australia did with Pocock against South Africa in the RWC quarter final. Graham Henry and co. spotted that, and in the semi-final, they countered it by either taking the play to the opposite side of the breakdown from where Pocock was positioned, or when they had to go that way, they had a player close the the ball carrier who stayed out of contact until the tackle was made and then immediately cleaned out Pocock before he had a chance to get his hands on the ball. This made Pocock totally ineffective, and was a major reason why the All Blacks won that match so convincingly.

The Reds were using Liam Gill (and to a lesser extent, Mike Harris) the same way, and I am really surprised Todd Blackadder didn't cotton to what the Reds were doing until an hour into the game.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Close game fort the Saders.

 

[Larksea]

I thought the Yellow card would be the difference between the sides it was so close with the reds better in some areas and the Crusaders better in others, but in the end the Crusaders did really well during the 10min Crockett was off and clearly had the the better of the game in the critical last 5-10min when the game was in the balance.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

anyone know what the deal was with the special saders jersey?

 

[Draggs]

http://www.speartackle.co.za/2012/05/04/superrugby-crusaders-vs-reds-preview/

The Crusaders will be playing in a speciall-made St John jersey. All the jersey's will be signed and be auctioned off to raise funds towards funding St John's support of community rugby in the Crusaders franchise area.

I quite liked it.

 

[admartian]

Congrats reds! Stellar performance, I think we all all know who the better team was on the night despite the final bell.

Yes.

The Crusaders right?



Clsoe game, ref was weird on both sides of the ball. Both teams played well. Sadly, and to Leper messiah's dismay; both teams cannot win.

Carter needs to be featured more. Otherwise, if he's not being gameplanned in, needs to take the control from the scruff of the neck from Taylor. There were a few times where carter got the ball and got things going. And other times where Taylor got it and went nowhere.

Not that I'm expecting him to be better at this stage of his career, but you have to go with your more experienced and relatively in-form player.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

ahh didn't realise it was a special jersey, I thought it looked great, kind of like the super 12 crusaders jerseys

 

[austingtir]

Im a bit perplexed as to why the saders struggle against this reds team..... im thinking the reds atm are their boggy team and were kinda lucky to win the game yesterday.

To me alot of the NZ sides are not using the correct tactics against this team. To me the reds forwards are incredibly soft for a championship side. The blues in the semi (not a huge suprise with lam in charge) and the crusaders failed to really deal to them with pick and drives and strong forward play.

I think alot of the NZ coaches need to wake up and adjust their game plans a bit against these guys.

 

[madflyhalf]

I haven't seen the game yet, how was Liam Gill? Did he play well?

I think in a couple of years (he's still 19!) he could threat Pocock for Wallaby 7 jersey, more than Micheal Hooper, I think Gill is a more complete player than Hooper, and potentially, more than Pocock, but only time (and game time!) can tell us...

 

[smartcooky]

I haven't seen the game yet, how was Liam Gill? Did he play well?

I think in a couple of years (he's still 19!) he could threat Pocock for Wallaby 7 jersey, more than Micheal Hooper, I think Gill is a more complete player than Hooper, and potentially, more than Pocock, but only time (and game time!) can tell us...

Watch it if you get the chance, because Gill was outstanding at the breakdown. Sometimes his over-enthusiasm caused him to give away penalties at crucial times.

This guy is going to give us trouble in the future, unless a NH club makes him an offer he can't refuse.