V Bookie: Super15 R12 Stormers - Crusaders

[TRF_stormer2010]

Congrats to the Crusaders. We really needed this one but let ourselves down at critical stages; couldn't finish our ample chances off and made silly unforced mistakes in both halves of the field. Crusaders looked dangerous with ball in hand but really we should've closed this one out with the Crusaders so depleted. Should've, would''ve, could've, good game Crusaders (see you in the rematch semi's!!).

 

[Bossco]

The Stormers looked like a completely different team on attack with ball in hand, very threatening and Fourie, who I don't normally rate, was excellent. Why haven't they played like this since the start though, they look like a different team and real contenders.

All the hyping up of the SBW and JDV clash (mostly by pdv) seems to have backfired, especially after SBW treated him as a speed bump at one point.

Was a good game to watch, teams are quite evenly matched, Stormers still a bit unpolished and I think the Crusaders playing with a full compliment will definately have an edge. And someone needs to tell Schalk to pull his head in and that raising your voice and arguing with the ref doesn't work, never will and is counterproductive.

 

[smartcooky]

What I found most amazing about the Crusaders winning the match was the players they did it with.

Richie McCaw - out
Dan Carter - out
Brad Thorn - out
Ben Franks - out

then in the first half

Israel Dagg - injured
Kahn Fotoali'i - injured
Sean Maitland - injured
Adam Whitelock - injured

Missing eight first choice players, and they still managed to beat the top South African side at Newlands. They ran out of back replacements, and had Matt Todd playing on the right wing!!!

Wyatt Crockett was awesome today, and my MOTM.

 

[Bryan Selwood]

What I found most amazing about the Crusaders winning the match was the players they did it with.

Richie McCaw - out
Dan Carter - out
Brad Thorn - out
Ben Franks - out

then in the first half

Israel Dagg - injured
Kahn Fotoali'i - injured
Sean Maitland - injured
Adam Whitelock - injured

Missing eight first choice players, and they still managed to beat the top South African side at Newlands. They ran out of back replacements, and had Matt Todd playing on the right wing!!!

Wyatt Crockett was awesome today, and my MOTM.

Andy Ellis and Sam Whitelock are also out

 

[smartcooky]

Andy Ellis and Sam Whitelock are also out

Yep. I forgot about them, so thats ten first choice players.

 

[Darwin]

Great win for the Crusaders, especially considering the injuries they had before, and especially during, the game. I don't know I've even seen a game where a team has lost 4 backs to injury within the first 30 mins of a game!

Like SmartCooky, I thought Wyatt Crockett was the man of the match. Not only did he score two tries, but he was strong in the scrum, and all over the field both in a attack and defense. A couple of his hits today were HUGE! Tony Woodock must be starting to worry about his AB's position as Crockett has been great all season, while Woodcock has been very quite by his own standards (and is currently out with injury). Chris Jack had a strong game, and I was really impressed with the leadership Keiran Read showed - there is no doubt he will be the AB's captain when McCaw leaves. Matt Todd was again fantastic, despite playing half the game on the wing...

Heinz played quite well (despite blowing a try by losing the ball) after replacing Fotuali'i, and it looks like he will get his first start for the Crusaders next week with both Ellis and Fotuali'i out. Berquist had a pretty mixed game. Not sure why he repeatedly tried to run the ball out of the Crusaders half, when a kick for territory would have been a much better decision. The Crusaders only real standout back to me was SBW, he was dangerous with the ball in hand, and very strong on defense. He certainly got the best of de Villiers in this game in my opinion.

 

[ranger]

Great win for the Crusaders, especially considering the injuries they had before, and especially during, the game. I don't know I've even seen a game where a team has lost 4 backs to injury within the first 30 mins of a game!

Like SmartCooky, I thought Wyatt Crockett was the man of the match. Not only did he score two tries, but he was strong in the scrum, and all over the field both in a attack and defense. A couple of his hits today were HUGE! Tony Woodock must be starting to worry about his AB's position as Crockett has been great all season, while Woodcock has been very quite by his own standards (and is currently out with injury). Chris Jack had a strong game, and I was really impressed with the leadership Keiran Read showed - there is no doubt he will be the AB's captain when McCaw leaves. Matt Todd was again fantastic, despite playing half the game on the wing...

Heinz played quite well (despite blowing a try by losing the ball) after replacing Fotuali'i, and it looks like he will get his first start for the Crusaders next week with both Ellis and Fotuali'i out. Berquist had a pretty mixed game. Not sure why he repeatedly tried to run the ball out of the Crusaders half, when a kick for territory would have been a much better decision. The Crusaders only real standout back to me was SBW, he was dangerous with the ball in hand, and very strong on defense. He certainly got the best of de Villiers in this game in my opinion.

He got the better of more than one De Villiers in that game.

 

[Darwin]

He got the better of more than one De Villiers in that game.

Indeed.

The Crusaders depth will certainly be tested next week against the resurgent Cheetahs team (who have now won two in a row). Sean Maitland, Kahn Fotuali'i, Adam Whitelock, and Israel Dagg are all flying home, while Ryan Crotty, Steve Alfred, Tom Taylor, and Brent Ward are all flying over to join the squad. Hopefully McCaw and Carter are fit enough to play!

 

[nickdnz]

Great win by the Crusaders, talk about a gutsy effort to pull that through. I just want to say now, Zac Guildford showed over and over again why he would not make my All Blacks squad. He had a shocker. He must have ran backwards 5 times, and lost at least 30 metres, and that quick throw in...his little sidesteps are shocking. Crockett gets my man of the match, what a beast effort. His discipline has also improved significantly from what it was last year, but his scrummaging was very impressive (didn't realize he was only 112kg). Nice two tries as well, with the second being a monster effort. Read was once again, spectacular. SBW had a good game, but perhaps a few of his offloads were not the way to go, as Fruean rarely looked ready for them. Fruean had a mixed game, was invisible for a majority of it, and made a few errors, but he did a very good kick from his own 22 into the midfield, and also broke the line setting up another try.

I was impressed with the new Stormers fly half Lionel Cronje, he looked pretty composed and had a very good debut.

 

[Darwin]

Great win by the Crusaders, talk about a gutsy effort to pull that through. I just want to say now, Zac Guildford showed over and over again why he would not make my All Blacks squad. He had a shocker. He must have ran backwards 5 times, and lost at least 30 metres, and that quick throw in...his little sidesteps are shocking. Crockett gets my man of the match, what a beast effort. His discipline has also improved significantly from what it was last year, but his scrummaging was very impressive (didn't realize he was only 112kg). Nice two tries as well, with the second being a monster effort. Read was once again, spectacular. SBW had a good game, but perhaps a few of his offloads were not the way to go, as Fruean rarely looked ready for them. Fruean had a mixed game, was invisible for a majority of it, and made a few errors, but he did a very good kick from his own 22 into the midfield, and also broke the line setting up another try.

I was impressed with the new Stormers fly half Lionel Cronje, he looked pretty composed and had a very good debut.

I agree re: Guildford, I thought he had a poor game. He was ineffective on attack, and made a couple of very silly errors, though he did make a couple of big hits on defense. However that was the first poor game he has played this season, and he has been very impressive in the rest of his games... if you are going to rule someone out of AB's contention because they have one poor game their certainly won't be any Hurricanes in the AB's (except perhaps Gear, who has been solid in a poor Canes team) . I personally don't think Guildford will make the AB's this year, but I don't think one poor game will rule him out.

I quite the look of Lionel Cronje too... he certainly doesn't look out of place in Super Rugby.

 

[Bossco]

Yeah he looks very promising. Wouldn't be surprised if the final is a rematch between these two, full compliment of Saders stars vs a more polished less frantic Stormers side would be a great game of running Rugby.

 

[Sam Owen]

The Crusaders only real standout back to me was SBW, he was dangerous with the ball in hand, and very strong on defense.

No doubt.

SBW came up with a lot of big plays. If Sonny wasnt playing I reckon the 'Saders wouldve lost. Yes Sonny is playing around good players and that is big part of why he's playing well, but in this game I think it was the other way around with the Crusaders being lucky to have someone like him delivering at a time his team needed him. Even Kieran Reid jumped on him and gave SBW some 'man love' at the final whistle because he knew who the man was.

I'd go as far as saying that SBW is the best 2nd five in Super Rugby at the moment.

Jacque Fourie is still the man, just makes it look easy.

Very good game both teams.

 

[woodward]

I'd go as far as saying that SBW is the best 2nd five in Super Rugby at the moment.

Hardly a big call to make, its pretty hard to think of someone who comes close

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Hardly a big call to make, its pretty hard to think of someone who comes close

Yeah, I also can't think of anyone who has anything on SBW at 12 at the moment.

Crocket def MotM. The first try could have been scored by the other support runner but to be fair he was there and few others would have scored the 2nd. Big in the scrums and made a helluva lot of tackles.

A team effort but those 2 stood out.

For the Stormers I was happy with the youngsters. Cronje looked fine and has a better boot for distance which helped. Sadie looked fine even though he made one silly error that put us uner pressure and let to the 2nd try.

What I don't understand is wh Coetzee replaced our best player on the day in Jacque Fourie? He wasn't injured and it was a very tight match. We seriously needed his penetration in the last 10/15 minutes.

GG, Crusaders, to come to CT and go away with 4 points with the amount of injuries you are carrying/sustained during the game.

 

[SBW12]

Sonny's performance against the Stormers. I hope he stays in Rugby for a very long time, He was getting wasted in League.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy1J48g-LV8

 

[TNT88]

He is coming along well. I wouldn't say he was wasted in league or stayed to long though. The reason he is so good at those tackles and offloads is because of his time in rugby league. Nice video though.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sonny's performance against the Stormers. I hope he stays in Rugby for a very long time, He was getting wasted in League.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy1J48g-LV8

:huh:
He was a brilliant League player


That's a good clip though, certainly looks like he had a blinder

Poor effort on that moustache though

 

[ranger]

:huh:
He was a brilliant League player


That's a good clip though, certainly looks like he had a blinder

Poor effort on that moustache though

Probably ment wasted as in that sport would never take him anywhere. Only two competitions and a joke of an international game.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Ah, fair points!

 

[Larksea]

shame I picked the crucaders for 8+

I'm sure that would have been spot on if not for all the injuries

That strip on Aplon was his play of the day IMO. Great stuff.