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Crusaders player ratings vs Brumbies | Super Rugby Trans-Tasman
The Crusaders continued the trend of Kiwi dominance in round one of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competition, just beating the Brumbies 31-29 in Christchurch.
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Watching the early simple errors that led to the dysfunctional scrums was as much fun as a root canal but patient viewers were rewarded with the odd sprinkling of excitement; both teams that looked like they were coming down from their respective finals last week.
The second half was more fluid and the Brumbies showed some spunk, showing a never say die attitude. If it wasn’t for a bizarre call from assistant referee James Doleman at a lineout they could have had a memorable victory.
Here’re the Crusaders ratings.
1. George Bower – 5.5
As well as scruffy scrumming threw a slovenly no-look pass to Simone in the 23rd minute that gave the Brumbies an 80 metre attack and penalty. Off at 56.
2. Codie Taylor – 6.5
His 100th game for the franchise won’t be one he fondly remembers for the standard of play. Solid as teak but has lost his magnificent mojo from earlier in the season. Off at 60.
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3. Michael Alalatoa – 5.5
For the second night in a row the scrums were a rabble. The nonsense seemed to start on the tighthead’s side with Sio and hopefully we don’t see too much of this malarkey during the competition. Didn’t have his normal defensive numbers either, one tackle and two missed. Off at 49.
4. Mitchell Dunshea – 6.5
Such a wonderful athlete to have at lock. His hands to set up Blackadder for the first try were sublime. Off at 59 and back 10 minutes later after Grace’s bloodbin.
5. Sam Whitelock – 6.5
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I wonder if he’ll get a rest next week, he still did the business but didn’t get it all his way against Swain and Frost.
6. Ethan Blackadder – 7
Didn’t need to do much for the first try but well deserved for all the dirty jobs he does. Gets into everything; a definite non-shirker at the breakdown and top tackler by some way. Showed some surprising speed at 60 minutes when streaking to the line, but just denied by one hell of a tackle by Reimer.
7. Tom Sanders – N/A
Off early after eating about three Valetini knees as he got a low tackle wrong.
8. Cullen Grace – 7
Nice turnover in the 17th minute to stop the Brumbies on attack. In my opinion he looked more aggressive and assertive tonight and warranted his try. The commitment translated into claret but some tape and a bit of vas and he was away again.
The Crusaders have survived a late scare from the Brumbies in their opening Super Rugby Trans-Tasman fixture at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch. #SuperRugbyTT #CRUvBRU https://t.co/DpwfEwDy9E
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 15, 2021
9. Bryn Hall – 6
Looked a lot better in the second half as the game became more fluid. The numbers showed that he was one-dimensional tonight, solely passing, no sniping and stats said no kicks at all. Maybe needs to to be a threat occasionally around the fringe to regain a starting spot off Drummond. Off at 60.
10. Richie Mo’unga – 7.5
It took 28 minutes but when we finally got a clean scrum, Richie made the most of the quick ball by stepping two or three flatfooted Brumbie defenders for a try. Brave in defence not backing down against some big runners as well. Off at 70.
11. Leicester Fainga’anuku – 6
Got sucked in on defence in the 17th and the 27th minutes but continued his strong running, picked out Valetini and Ikitau to take on and give a bruising to.
12. David Havili – 6.5
Every game he is looking more assured in the 2nd 5/8th role, some nice, animated dummy runs distracting defenders. At the end of the first quarter gave away three penalties with some poor judgement. Timed his run for his intercept try at the end of the first half. He’s got the no look/behind the back passes in midfield down well and also his occasional positional kicking to turn the Brumbies around was strong.
13. Braydon Ennor – 5.5
As with Mataele just didn’t look as fluent as the regulars in the backline. Had a decent chance on attack in the 3rd minute with some space but decided to pop an aimless chip in. Also saw a try go begging in the 40th minutes as he tried to dive over a ruck but lost control. Big hit on Valetini in the 66th then moments later couldn’t take a long pass with momentum and then missed Banks at the start of his incredible run, which he was still spewing about at the post-match interview.
14. Manasa Mataele – 5
Looked a little rusty in terms of match play, grabbing at the ball at times and just not being able to insert himself in the game. Off at 52.
15. George Bridge – 7
Prospered early with the Brumbies invitation to run it back from some generous positional kicking. Strong defence on Kata in the 17th minute and a nasty head clash with Ikitau early in the 2nd. Top metres for his team and valuable outing in terms of building some versatility in case of injury.
The Brumbies were unfortunate in the extreme to not secure a result against the Crusaders in Christchurch, but here’s how the Super Rugby AU runners-up rated. #SuperRugbyTT #CRUvBRU https://t.co/xKiKmQSLES
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 15, 2021
Reserves:
16. Brodie McAlister – N/A
On at 60. He’s solid.
17. Tamaiti Williams – 6
On at 56. I love his strength and mobility for a huge man; he’s going to be a big star.
18. Oliver Jager – 4
On at 49. 3 penalties given away to give the Brumbies a shot.
19. Quentin Strange – 4.5
On at 59. Threw an awful pass at 71 that led to the Banks try and missed a couple of tackles as well.
20. Brendon O’Connor – 6.5
On early after Sanders went off for some attention. I was looking forward to seeing a genuine open side operate for the Crusaders and he did pretty well, set up a nice turnover for Blackadder in the 45th. Got himself a rolling maul try off a bizarre penalty awarded by the A.R.
21. Ereatara Enari – 4
On at 60. Some good crisp passes but a dumb play to leave his team down one down for the last two minutes.
22. Fergus Burke – N/A
On at 70.
23. Sevu Reece – 5
On at 52. Over amped trying to make a difference.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 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.
25 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.
25 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 commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments