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Crusaders name strong squad in quest for Super Rugby four-peat despite All Black exodus
The Crusaders squad for 2020 has been named, with a number of debutants in the side, and some familiar faces who will be named in the 38-man squad for the first time.
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The official announcement of all five New Zealand Super Rugby squads is live on Sky Sport this evening, and head coach Scott Robertson is in attendance to reveal his Crusaders team for Super Rugby’s 25th season.
Robertson said: “This is an exciting new era for the Crusaders, and an opportunity for some talented young players to step up in the Super Rugby environment. We farewelled a number of highly experienced players and great men at the end of last season, who have set this year’s squad up to build on our success. It’s exciting to embrace a new chapter of Crusaders rugby, which starts with the naming of our squad tonight.”
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Of the 12 new Crusaders, six players have progressed through the Crusaders academy (Fergus Burke, Tom Christie, Inga Finau, Cullen Grace, Brodie McAlister, Dallas McLeod) and the group represents six provincial unions across New Zealand; Canterbury, Tasman, Otago, Waikato, North Harbour and Northland. Four players also have Super Rugby caps to their name already – Sevu Reece, Brodie McAlister, Isi Tuungafasi and George Bower were all capped during the 2019 season.
“Crusaders fans will be familiar with wing Sevu Reece,” Robertson said. “He was our 2019 Rookie of the Year after joining the squad as an injury replacement and making the most of his opportunity at Super Rugby level. An exciting and instinctive player, we’re looking forward to welcoming Sevu back following his debut Rugby World Cup campaign with the All Blacks.
“We also welcome front-rowers Brodie, Isi and George as full squad members this season. Brodie was a New Zealand Schools representative who, at just 22, has had to overcome some adversity with injury early in his career. He had some valuable game time for Canterbury in the Mitre 10 Cup recently and is a promising addition for us at hooker.
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“George Bower is another great addition to our squad having made a really meaningful contribution at prop in 2019. He’s an agile and skilful front rower, who can play either side of the scrum, and he’s a really popular team man as well so we look forward to giving him further opportunities with the Crusaders in 2020.
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“I coached Isi with the New Zealand Under 20 side back in 2015 and he’s a young prop who impressed us during his time here last season. He first represented Auckland at provincial level before making the move to Northland in 2018 for more opportunities, and it’s great to have him return to Christchurch ahead of our 2020 campaign,” Robertson said.
Of the uncapped players joining the squad, there are four forwards and four backs.
“Ethan Roots is a strong, abrasive loose forward/lock option for us, who had a brilliant Mitre 10 Cup season for North Harbour. We’re excited to unlock the potential in this promising East Coast Bays club representative,” Robertson said.
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“Sione Havili will also join our loose forwards as a powerful ball carrier and defender, who had his 2018 season cut short through injury but was superb in the Tasman Mako pack in 2019.
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“Tom Christie and Cullen Grace complete our loose forward group for 2020 – both are former UC Championship players who represented New Zealand Secondary Schools’, Canterbury Under 19s, and the New Zealand Under 20 side. Tom has shown plenty of leadership qualities having captained the Under 20s, and Cullen impressed in his debut provincial season as a loose forward who has the ability to play lock.
“Fetuli Paea caps off a brilliant season for the Mako with Super Rugby selection. He has represented Tonga in both the sevens and 15’s game, is an explosive ball carrier, and gives us options with his ability to play a number of backline positions.
“Inga Finau took a year off from professional rugby in 2018 to pursue his studies, returned for Canterbury this season and impressed as a strong, physical ball carrier capable of making an impact in the midfield. He has big shoes to fill with the departure of some highly experienced midfielders, but Inga is a quality footballer and we can’t wait to see what he can do on the Super Rugby stage.
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“Completing our playing roster for 2020 are young backs Fergus Burke and Dallas McLeod, who made their debuts for Canterbury this season. Fergus was a member of the New Zealand Under 20 side this year, while Dallas was Vice-Captain of that team for the Junior World Championship in Argentina. At just 20 years of age, we believe both have great futures ahead of them, and we look forward to having all of our 2020 rookies assemble as part of our Crusaders squad for the pre-season in a couple of week’s time,” Robertson said.
In the absence of Sam Whitelock in 2020, Robertson has also named a new Captain in Scott Barrett, and said the lock is a natural choice to lead the side in his sixth season with the Crusaders: “Scott has a phenomenal work ethic, and produces consistent performances for the Crusaders. He’s well-respected by his team mates as well as the coaching and management group, has great character and helps drive our team culture so we see him as a natural fit to Captain the side and congratulate Scooter on this exciting opportunity.”
The Crusaders squad will officially assemble to commence their pre-season on 28th November, with the All Blacks due to return in the New Year.
CRUSADERS 2020 SQUAD
FORWARDS: Michael Alaalatoa, Harry Allan, Scott Barrett (c), Ethan Blackadder, George Bower, Tom Christie, Whetukamokamo Douglas, Mitchell Dunshea, Cullen Grace, Billy Harmon, Sione Havili, Oliver Jager, Andrew Makalio, Brodie McAlister, Joe Moody, Luke Romano, Ethan Roots, Tom Sanders, Quinten Strange, Codie Taylor, Isi Tuungafasi.
BACKS: George Bridge, Fergus Burke, Brett Cameron, Mitchell Drummond, Ere Enari, Braydon Ennor, Leicester Faingaanuku, Inga Finau, Jack Goodhue, Bryn Hall, David Havili, Will Jordan, Manasa Mataele, Dallas McLeod, Richie Mo’unga, Fetuli Paea, Sevu Reece.
Transfers
In: Sevu Reece, Dallas McLeod, Tom Christie, George Bower, Cullen Grace, Sione Havili, Brodie McAlister, Ethan Roots, Isi Tuungafasi, Fergus Burke, Inga Finau, Fetuli Paea.
Out: Tim Bateman (retired), Ryan Crotty (Japan), Israel Dagg (retired), Owen Franks (UK), Ben Funnell (Japan), Mitchell Hunt (Highlanders), Tim Perry, Ngane Punivai (Highlanders), Kieran Read (Japan), Jordan Taufua (UK), Matt Todd (Japan), Sam Whitelock (Japan sabbatical)
– Crusaders Rugby
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments