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Scott Robertson applauds last-ever performance of Crusaders halves partnership

By Tom Vinicombe
Richie Mo'unga. (Photo by Andrew Cornaga/Photosport)

It may have been the work of the Crusaders at the set-piece that really undermined any chance of the Blues scoring a victory in the Super Rugby Pacific final on their home turf, but the work of well-oiled halves pairing Bryn Hall and Richie Mo’unga didn’t go unnoticed by senior Crusaders figures.

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With the Crusaders dominating their opposition at the lineout throughout the match – forcing the Blues the operate with a less than 50 per cent success rate at the crucial set-piece – the Blues struggled to put their opposition under any long-term pressure throughout the match.

In the best-case scenario, the Blues were playing with scrappy ball. More often than not, however, the Crusaders were able to wrestle possession off the home side and Hall and Mo’unga were happy to pin the Blues back with some expertly placed kicks.

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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.

Mo’unga was at his effervescent best on attack throughout the 21-7 win, scooping up balls left, right and centre and then jinking his way around defender after defender to always keep the Blues on their toes – even picking off ball at the back of mistimed Blues lineouts.

“Richie’s one of the leaders within the group and when there’s a ball on the ground, you saw what it means to him, to sprint and put his body on the line to take that,” Crusaders captain Scott Barrett said following the victory at Eden Park. “That was a pretty big moment [when Mo’unga grabbed one dropped ball of a lineout]; the Blues were just getting a bit of momentum with the time on the clock.

“Just little things like that, he’s so big for this team and pretty lucky to have the likes of Rich, Davey (Havili), Sam (Whitelock) – I could rattle off so many leaders in this group that make my job and [coach Scott Robertson’s] easy.”

“He’s got so much time,” added Robertson. “You thought he was going to get tackled four or five times and he dummied instead. Tactically that’s probably his point of difference.

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“He missed one kick but everything out of hand [was good], defensive efforts, he’s pretty special – he’s world-class.”

Hall contributed to the onslaught in his own was, including one memorable box kick down the field from a sudden Crusaders turnover that pushing the ball deep inside Blues territory, and then throwing a beautiful tunnel ball between his legs on the next phase of possession to give the Crusaders ample quick ball from which to launch another attack (which, with some more clinical operators further out, likely would have result in try to the Cantabrians).

“Bryn’s been incredible in the last six years for us,” said Robertson. “[He’s] the ultimate competitor, isn’t he? Each week he turns up and he’s meticulous in the way he looks and the way he trains and the way he prepares. He’s just a great man for us.”

Having kicked off his career with the Blues back in 2013 but was eventually cut loose from the team by former coach Tana Umaga in 2016, with the Blues choosing to persevere with Augustine Pulu, Billy Guyton and Sam Nock instead. Hall was picked up by the Crusaders and one year later, helped the team to their first Super Rugby title under Scott Robertson.

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Saturday night’s victory marked Hall’s sixth title in as many years and now the 30-year-old will be taking his talents to Japan.

“It comes time [to leave],” Robertson said of his halfback’s impending departure. “Everyone’s got their reasons for it.”

Without Hall in the No 9 jersey, the Crusaders will still be able to call on Mitchell Drummond, who’s contracted with the side for two more seasons – but the Super Rugby Pacific champions will still feel Hall’s departure. After all, there’s good reason why he’s started 11 matches to Drummond’s five for the Crusaders this year, despite the two halfbacks typically sharing the load evenly in recent season.

Fortunately for the Crusaders, Mo’unga still has at least one more year to run on his contract – which means the Cantabrians will have as good a chance of taking home the title next year as any other team.

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Jon 8 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 11 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.

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