Ryan Crotty makes try-scoring return from injury in Mitre 10 Cup thrashing
All Blacks midfielder Ryan Crotty has marked his return from a long-term hand injury with a brace of tries for Canterbury in their 80-0 demolition of Southland in the Mitre 10 Cup in Christchurch on Saturday.
It was the first time the 30-year-old had taken to the field after fracturing his thumb during the Crusaders’ 30-26 Super Rugby semi-final victory against the Hurricanes in June.
Despite missing the Super Rugby final and being unavailable for all four of the All Blacks’ tests to date this year, Crotty was named in Steve Hansen’s 31-man All Blacks squad for next month’s World Cup.
His selection was one of many key talking points surrounding the squad announcement, as his inclusion forced the omission of Ngani Laumape, who many believed deserved to be in the side due to his barnstorming form over the past two years.
However, Crotty silenced his critics with a strong 40-minute showing at Orangetheory Stadium as Canterbury easily dispatched a struggling Southland outfit, whose winning drought is closing in on three years.
Hansen had noted that the experience, leadership and versatility of Crotty – who was playing at second-five in this, his 68th and likely final match for Canterbury – was what got him the nod over Laumape.
Plenty of those facets of the former’s game were on show in the Garden City as he ran in two of his side’s 12 tries.
The first came from a re-start after a Luke Romano try, with former All Blacks loose forward Luke Whitelock kicking off a 65 metre break, which saw the ball go through the hands of rookie first-five Fergus Burke and veteran midfielder Tim Bateman, who assisted Crotty with a simple pass.
It took just another six minutes for the 44-test midfielder to grab his second try, which came after a gaping hole opened up in Southland’s defensive line from a lineout inside their 22.
Canterbury halfback Mitchell Drummond bolted through and passed to the supporting Crotty, who ploughed through a couple of tackle attempts to crash over by the posts.
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Presumably under strict instructions from Hansen, Canterbury head coach Joe Maddock pulled Crotty from the field at half-time to cap off a successful return to rugby after two months out of action.
He was one of three Cantabrians to bag a pair of tries, with Drummond and electric fullback Josh McKay also scoring twice.
All three players were standouts in the 80-point thrashing, as were the likes of replacement pivot Brett Cameron, discarded Fijian wing Patrick Osborne and young openside flanker Tom Christie.
The result won’t elevate Canterbury above the Premiership relegation zone, as they remain in last place with eight points, one off the pace of the sixth-placed North Harbour and three points away from a top four berth.
The Stags, meanwhile, are yet to pick up a competition point this year as they go in search of their first win in the Mitre 10 Cup since October 2016.
Crotty will now turn his attention to his duties with the All Blacks as they prepare to take on Tonga in their final World Cup warm-up match in Hamilton next week.
The All Blacks’ World Cup campaign kicks off against South Africa in Yokohama on September 21.
Canterbury 80 (Tries to Mitchell Drummond (2), Ryan Crotty (2), Josh McKay (2), Tom Christie, Luke Romano, Fergus Burke, Mitchell Dunshea, Dallas McLeod, Luke Whitelock tries; Burke 4 con, Brett Cameron 6 con)
Southland 0
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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