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If Robertson can work his magic with Whitelock, Crusaders will be title favourites

By Hamish Bidwell
(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Scott Robertson’s ability to enthuse Sam Whitelock might well determine the outcome of Super Rugby Aotearoa.

Asterisk or not, there’s still a title to be won here and the Crusaders remain the benchmark for Southern Hemisphere franchise sides. Having Whitelock back, at least in theory, should be a boon for Robertson and company, but then these are rather unique times.

Prior to the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup exit, you’d have put the house on Whitelock succeeding Kieran Read as national captain. He’d just claimed a hat-trick of Super titles as Crusaders skipper, extended his New Zealand Rugby (NZR) contract by four years and was clearly among the first names on the All Blacks’ teamsheet.

By tournament’s end, though, the 31-year-old veteran of 117 test matches began to show signs of wear and tear.

Never mind, he had a lucrative Japanese sabbatical to embark on, enabling him to sit out the 2020 Super season and still be ensconced as New Zealand skipper.

Sadly, Joel Everson’s drug charge, then COVID-19, put paid to the Japan Top League and now Sam Cane’s been named All Blacks captain.

Having happily turned his back on the Crusaders for this year, Whitelock’s about to embark on yet another Super Rugby season. Only not as their skipper either, with Scott Barrett having assumed that role.

Chris Boyd said a lot of interesting things as Hurricanes coach. Among them was that his team made the 2015 Super Rugby final, and were champions the following year, slightly by default.

If he was being absolutely honest, Boyd said, the Hurricanes’ success owed a bit to the comparative failure of the Crusaders.

Among the issues then-Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder had was energising some senior All Blacks. Men for whom Super Rugby had become a chore and who were treading water ahead of the international season.

Yes, old stagers such as Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter had gone by the time Robertson took the helm, but that doesn’t diminish his ability to motivate the men who remained.

We all know Robertson has plenty of quirky tactical ideas, but his greatest strengths lie in areas such as the theming of campaigns and the ability to sell established players on the notions of sacrifice and team.

He’ll have worked very hard to establish Barrett as the new leader and to differentiate 2020 from the Whitelock era and now some of that will need to be undone or adapted. Whitelock’s faced a few career disappointments in recent months too, meaning Robertson will need to excite and challenge him again.

Teams are delicate little organisms and – even with the same personnel – change from season to season. Now the Crusaders have a colossal figure rejoining the ranks in a diminished leadership capacity, which should make things interesting.

Similar can be said for the competition as a whole.

It’s a shame in some ways that this isn’t in a Mitre 10 Cup format. These are challenging financial and emotional times and you might argue that a more national competition would be welcome right now.

As it is, at least we’ll have some footy and hopefully it’s competitive too.

It’s hard to make a case for the Highlanders, but the Crusaders, Chiefs, Hurricanes and Blues all appear to have reasonable title claims. I fancied the Chiefs at the start of the season, but have found it hard not to be impressed by the Blues. Add Beauden Barrett to their roster and suddenly you have a serious contender to talk about.

The Hurricanes will have their moments, but maybe look a few players short of a championship side, and then there’s those Crusaders.

Whitelock’s return ought to make them certain favourites, but we’ll have to wait and see if Robertson can keep working his magic yet again.

 

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J
Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

25 Go to comments
A
Adrian 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

25 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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