Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Why Boredom is the Crusaders' Secret Weapon

By Scotty Stevenson
Super Rugby Rd 2 – Crusaders v Blues

The Crusaders will bore you to death, and that’s why they’re so good, writes Scotty Stevenson.

ADVERTISEMENT

It only took two rounds but any lingering doubts about the Crusadersability to perform without two of the best All Blacks of of all time evaporated with a gritty win over the Blues on Friday night. It wasnt pretty, it wasnt clinical, but it was illustrative of a hidden depth in the squad that had been hard to see beneath the bright lights of the clubs biggest names.

It was illustrative, too, of the power of the game plan. The Crusaders may have made subtle shifts over time, but at the heart of everything they do is an adherence to press defence rugby that feeds on opponentsmistakes. The Blues gladly dished up a smorgasbord of those, and the Crusaders filled their boots.

No Carter, no McCaw, no Matt Todd, no Tom Taylor, no Colin Slade, no Ryan Crotty – no worries. That was about the gist of it against a Blues side that was pinned inside its 22 metres for what seemed like the entire game. The Crusaders spent almost quarter of an hour sniffing around the Blues try line, and only some staunch defence and a willingness to concede penalties on the Blues’ part prevented the score from blowing out.

This game showed why the Crusaders can never be discounted as a playoff hopeful. They are robots. This is a team that slots players into a game plan, rather than builds a game plan around players. They spread the ball, probe the width, kick for turf, make their tackles and repeat.

That kind of footy requires organisation and drive, and in Andy Ellis they have a metronomic competitor who mitigates any loss of speed over time with a Rembrandts approach to scrum half play. His motto: Ill be there for you. He is the Chandler Bing of rugby.

On Friday night he was clobbered by a forearm and left the field for a concussion test. Midway through the examination, the Doctor asked him if he was feeling a little slow. His reply? Only because I am getting old.He sailed through the Head Injury Assessment (HIA) Protocol and sprinted back down the long player tunnel to retake his place in the game. It was typical Andy Ellis; hes like the Black Knight in the famous Monty Python sketch: Tis but a scratch.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ellis is the veteran in a backline that once was populated by All Blacks and is now comprised of age grade stars and a giant Fijian winger. The backline is there, mainly, to supply a series of hands for the ball to go through before it is invariably passed to Nemani Nadolo. The Crusaders made a tournament high 206 passes on Friday night. Ellis threw 64 of them. Most of them went to Nadolo.

There are plenty of critics when it comes to the Crusaders game plan. It doesnt rely on exciting counter-attack like the Chiefs and the Highlanders. It is not filled to the brim with revolutionary midfield moves, and it is nothing if not predictable. But when it is done well, it works. And on Friday night it was done very well indeed.

Even better for the Crusaders, they head into the bye having restored their pride on their home patch with a 13th straight defeat of the Blues in Christchurch and get this: they have the best post-bye record of any New Zealand team, winning 78% of their games after a break.

You may not be entertained by the Crusaders, but you have been warned.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 4 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
TRENDING
TRENDING 'It's an All Black discussion': The pair of young Hurricanes tipped for black jerseys The pair of young Hurricanes tipped for black jerseys
Search