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'They're gone': Crusaders on the ropes as disastrous season continues
The Crusaders’ quest for another Super Rugby Pacific crown appears over this season with former Wallaby Stephen Hoiles claiming the defending champions are “gone” from the title race after another disastrous defeat.
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One week ago on Stan Sports’ Rugby Heaven, Hoiles told Sean Maloney and Morgan Turinui that he wanted to give the Crusaders one more week. The serial champions were second-last with a 1-6 record ahead of a decisive fixture.
It’s not very often in sport that a bottom two clash at the halfway point of the season captures headlines, but this is the Crusaders after all. They had the Western Force up next in a crucial clash at Perth’s HBF Park.
But it wasn’t the Crusaders’ night. The Force took a 16-5 lead into the sheds at half-time and continued to control proceedings afterwards as they claimed a 22-point win which saw the men from out west leapfroged their opponents on the ladder.
The Crusaders are now last on the standings. They’re the only team yet to win two matches this season, and with the playoffs just around the corner, it doesn’t look good for the reigning champions.
“You’ve seen both sides of it. You’ve seen people saying this is the Force’s best ever win and the Crusaders’ worst-ever loss,” Hoiles said on Stan Sports’ Between Two Posts.
“I wasn’t surprised at the Force winning, I was surprised in how good they looked in several aspects of their play. The best they’ve looked defensively in a long time.
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“It’s still hard to work out, is it just because the Crusaders are having such a terrible run this year?
“The Force looked better, they looked as good as I’ve seen them this year, but I reckon we can almost put a line through the Crusaders… they’re gone.”
Match Summary 
5
Penalty Goals
0
4
Tries
3
1
Conversions
0
0
Drop Goals
0
72
Carries
141
4
Line Breaks
5
6
Turnovers Lost
13
7
Turnovers Won
4
The Crusaders’ aspirations of turning their season around against the lowly-ranked Force got off to a positive start with marquee off-season recruit Levi Aumua scoring just a few minutes into the contest.
But the next 37 minutes were practically controlled by the home team. With the HBF Park crowd spurring the Force on, the hosts scored two tries to none as they overcame a yellow card to Carlo Tizzano.
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There were hints of a Crusaders comeback during the second 40 but the Fore proved too strong in the end, with the Crusaders unable to get to within seven points at any stage of that half. It was a famous, drought-breaking night out west.
“The Rebels now go to Christchurch next week… we cannot get our head around judging the career on 2024 form because you’re just waiting for the real Crusaders to come back,” ex-Wallaby Morgan Turinui added.
“You cannot bet against them, judge against or talk negatively about that red and black jersey because it just feels wrong.
“That shouldn’t be surprising… (the Force) never looked in trouble, even when they conceded early. They were smart, they handled 14 on 15 well because (Carlo) Tizzano was on the pine for 10 minutes.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Less modern South African males predictably triggered.
10 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
78 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
78 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
10 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to comments