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'Managed minutes' finally hands Crusaders protege an opportunity to run the cutter
It’s been a long time coming but young first five Fergus Burke has finally been handed the reins to run the cutter for the Crusaders as the Super Rugby Aotearoa champions eye up their final home match of the season.
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Burke was named in last year’s Crusaders squad as one of 12 new call-ups but has found game time hard to come by over the past two seasons.
With two All Blacks ahead of him in the pecking order, Brett Cameron and Richie Mo’unga, minutes were always going to be at a premium for the young No 10.
As such, in the 25 games that the Crusaders have played throughout 2020 and 2021, Burke has managed just nine appearances totalling 111 minutes.
Promisingly for the 21-year-old, however, it appears that Burke has taken over as the second-choice first five for the Crusaders, pushing himself ahead of 2018 All Blacks tourist Brett Cameron.
On Friday evening, Burke is finally set to make his first starting appearance for the Crusaders and will wear the coveted No 10 jersey when his side take on the Western Force in Christchurch.
Burke takes over from Richie Mo’unga who has been an almost permanent fixture at No 10 for the Crusaders over the past two years, missing just one match through injury.
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While Burke has served an admirable apprenticeship behind Mo’unga, Crusaders coach Scott Robertson would likely have persisted with his usual first five-eighth were it not for All Blacks rest mandates from New Zealand Rugby. The protocol hasn’t been quite so stringent this year as in past seasons but Mo’unga and some of his teammates have shouldered a heavy load in 2021 and are due a rest every now and again.
That was easy during Super Rugby Aotearoa, with no more than four matches played before every bye, but the Crusaders haven’t had a break since the week before the Aotearoa final. As such, Mo’unga, Samuel Whitelock and prop George Bower have all been given the week off.
Friday night’s fixture grants Burke the opportunity to prove that’s he’s up to the challenge of starting a Super Rugby match and that he’s the right man to lead the Crusaders around the park in Mo’unga’s absence.
The Crusaders will face the Western Force without All Blacks star Richie Mo'unga in this weekend's Super Rugby Trans-Tasman clash in Christchurch. #SuperRugbyTT #CRUvFOR https://t.co/J2KMYZYAeY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 2, 2021
The Crusaders have often opted to play without a first five on the reserves bench thanks to the presence of outstanding utility back David Havili, who can slot in at No 10 if necessary. A strong performance from Burke, however, may cause a shift in thinking from Robertson.
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A win with a bonus point would give the Crusaders the best possible chance of securing a spot in the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final in two and a half weeks’ time as the Aotearoa champions currently sit in third place on the ladder, behind the Hurricanes and Blues, who have secured bonus point victories in all their Trans-Tasman matches to date.
Friday’s match kicks off at 7:05pm NZT.
Comments on RugbyPass
It will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments