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'Like they had our playbook': Crusaders reveal title-winning lineout secret

By Tom Vinicombe
Scott Barrett takes a lineout. (Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

If the Blues were to have any chance of besting the Crusaders at Eden Park in Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific final, they needed to start by at least getting the basics right at the set-piece.

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So often a strength for the Auckland-based side this year, the Blues have become known for their strong set-piece thanks to the presence of a number of All Blacks in the pack coupled with some seasoned pros running the lineout.

It wasn’t to be, however, with the Blues’ scrum and lineout falling to pieces against a hungry Crusaders unit that never failed to challenge Blues ball and disrupt possesion.

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Reacting to the first All Blacks squad of the season.

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Reacting to the first All Blacks squad of the season.

The Blues finished the match with just a 47 per cent success rate at lineout time, conceding 10 of their 19 deliveries against the head. While the scrum looked to have the upper hand in the first half, any semblance of dominance caved in the final quarter after some exceptional work from Crusaders replacements Tamaiti Williams and Fletcher Newell, who well and truly got the better of the far more experienced combo of All Blacks Karl Tu’inukuafe and Ofa Tuungafasi.

“We obviously encountered a very good Crusaders side that piled on a lot of pressure and we just weren’t able to get our game going, which was hugely frustrating,” said Blues coach Leon MacDonald following the eventual 21-7 defeat.

“They were able to steal a lot of our lineout ball, they put pressure on at the scrum and the breakdown – three key areas to winning any game, let alone a final.

“We were unable to play the way we wanted to play and they have obviously been in a few finals and they knew how to do it well, and they did.”

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Stand-in Blues captain and first five-eighth Beauden Barrett added that without any regular front-foot ball, it was difficult for his side to really build into the match.

“They certainly had a strategy to sort us out at set-piece time, they certainly put us under a lot of pressure and spoiled our tempo and flow that we like to play,” he said.

“It was frustrating we couldn’t get into our game and whenever we did get going, it was sort of not on our terms. We were forced to make a bit of stuff up.

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“We’ve got to give them credit. Their defence was impressive and good enough to win it tonight.”

Such was the lineout dominance – with the likes of hookers Kurt Eklund and Soane Vikena, and number one lineout target Tom Robinson all struggling under pressure from the magnificent Sam Whitelock – that MacDonald mused it was almost as if the Crusaders knew their calls and strategies right from the get-go.

“They got up like they had our playbook,” he said. “They were reading our plays and causing a lot of trouble there. We tried variations and we just weren’t able to get quality ball to launch off.

“The scrum was sort of similar too, really. We had some dominance for a little bit and then they were able to come back and apply dominance.”

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Crusaders captain Scott Barrett revealed that his side had always planned to try disrupt the Blues’ ball – especially thanks to the wet weather forecast for Saturday night – and that his troops had put in some extra work during the week in order to get the upper hand over their northern rivals.

“Finals footy is a game about pressure and that’s something we talked about this week,” he said following the victory. “If we could pressure their set-piece – their scrum was dominant at times, particularly throughout this season, and we had to muscle up there – and at the lineout, we saw a few opportunities there if we could just get up in the air, [especially with] greasy ball, we could accumulate some pressure and we did that pretty well.

“I think we had a clear plan. We put a lot of time into it, meeting on the day off and throwing out ideas with (reserve lock) Quinten Strange and (forwards coach) Jason Ryan behind the scenes and putting a lot of work into that. We got the reward tonight, which was pleasing.”

The Crusaders scored two tries to the Blues’ one, with flyhalf Richie Mo’unga adding 11 points off the tee courtesy of a conversion, two penalties and a drop goal. While the Blues’ late score to Finlay Christie (off the back of a Crusaders error at the back of a scrum deep inside their own 22) gave the Blues some semblance of hope, the Crusaders eventually snuffed it out and finished up as deserved – and comprehensive – winners.

The Blues clearly struggled to penetrate with the ball in hand – not once heading into the final had they scored fewer than two tries in any game throughout the season – but the matter of the fact was that they had few opportunities to build momentum, few opportunities to test out the Crusaders’ defence and few opportunities to really put up much of a contest against the red and black machine thanks to their continual struggles at the set-piece.

MacDonald summed up the match nicely:

“10 missed lineouts is hard to live off. It’s as simple as that really.”

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J
Jon 5 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”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 7 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.

30 Go to comments
A
Adrian 9 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

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 12 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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