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Why Crosbie beat Christie, Bayliss and Dempsey to the Scotland No.7 spot

By Chris Jones
Luke Crosbie during a Scotland Rugby training session at the Oriam, on January 24, 2023, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group via Getty Images)

England have been warned Scotland flanker Luke Crosbie has the “super strengths” to make a major impact in the Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham.

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Crosbie, 25-years-old and 6ft 4ins, is the latest in a long line of raw boned Scotland back row forwards who revel in physical contact, including Finlay Calder, John Jeffrey, John Barclay, Kelly Brown, Jim Calder, Roger Arneil, Jason White and Blair Cowan.

Recently it has been Crosbie’s Edinburgh team mate Hamish Watson who has been putting his body on the line for Scotland and the 31-year-old flanker is now back in the squad after being concussed while playing against the All Blacks in November.

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However, against England it falls to Crosbie, making his Six Nations debut, to turn the break down into a minefield for England and he impressed in that role in Edinburgh’s Heineken Champions Cup 20-14 win over Saracens on January 22. Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend wants Crosbie and captain Jamie Ritchie, two of Edinburgh’s five forwards in the Scottish pack, to help make it a third successive win over England.

Picking Crosbie, Townsend said: “Luke is a form selection. It is a tricky one because you look at how well Andy Christie, Josh Bayliss and Jack Dempsey have been playing, but Luke has really stepped up.”

Gareth Baber, the gold medal winning former Fiji Sevens coach, has been helping Crosbie hone the skills that have earned him a third cap as part of the Edinburgh coaching set up and he is confident the flanker will impress on the Twickenham stage.

Baber told RugbyPass: “Luke is right in the heart of the game – that physical battle – and is very accurate about understanding his role defensively and also in attack showing his ball carrying ability. His work around the breakdown ensures speed of ball and at Twickenham I can see him being right on top of those elements of his game. Those are his super strengths that set him apart from others.

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“He sees the physical battle as part of his job and against England he will also be equal to the task of ball carrying, getting his hands on the ball multiple times in the game and challenging the opposition. On top of that is the number of rucks he will be hitting, when others have carried, to create that speed of ball. His footwork into the break down, recognising how to remove opponents to ensure quality of ball plus making multiple tackles to put pressure on, are real strengths.”

Crosbie will have Ritchie, the abrasive Scotland captain, alongside at Twickenham and Baber expects the pair, together with No8 Matt Fagerson, to have a significant impact on the match. “Jamie has that ball playing ability that creates balance and he knows Luke well,” added Baber. “When you go down to Twickenham you are going to need that understanding.

“When I arrived at Edinburgh, I knew about Hamish Watson and less about Luke, but I recognised the squad had a number of good back row players with lots of competition.

“Luke has had a couple of injuries and is quiet and unassuming. What is particularly impressive is the way goes about his business, developing and challenging himself. Even though he is in one of the most combative positions it is his level of emotional control that filters through to those around him.

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“Playing on a 4G pitch, speaking from an Edinburgh perspective, lends itself to playing a quicker game and that challenges our skills because we can train regularly at that level.”

Crosbie has been a professional with Edinburgh since 2017, having joined from Premiership club Currie with his first experience of rugby coming with Livingston. He was called up to Scotland’s squad for the 2019 and 2020 Six Nations Championships, eventually making test debut against Tonga in 2021.

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The flanker, who captained Scotland ‘A’ against Chile in June 2022 in Santiago, was named Edinburgh’s 2020-21 Player of the Season, a significant achievement for someone who has described himself as “a big skinny drip” when he started playing – something that he changed with significant gym work.

Crosbie has also shown his ability to multitask by studying for a marketing degree at Heriot-Watt University but his main focus is now on rugby and holding onto the club and country No 7 jersey with Watson now back in the selection mix. Baber said: “ Knowing his temperament and how he responds to challenges on and off the pitch, I am really excited to see him in one of the best stadiums in the world.”

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Jon 6 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 9 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.

36 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 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

36 Go to comments
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