crusaders confirm SA squad, read to remain at home,,,

Crusaders confirm SA squad, Read to remain at home

Head Coach Todd Blackadder has named his squad to travel to South Africa and Australia for rounds 7, 8 and 9 of the Investec Super Rugby 2013 tournament.

There are twenty-six Crusaders travelling in total, with two notable exceptions from the squad.

The first is first five-eighth Daniel Carter. Carter will not travel with the squad due to the imminent arrival of his first child.

The second is number eight Kieran Read. Read suffered an injury to his right foot during Saturday's game against the Southern Kings. Scans have shown a partial tear of ligaments under his big toe. Read is expected to be out of the game for a minimum of four weeks.

Head Coach Todd Blackadder said 'It is hugely disappointing that Kieran cannot join the team to South Africa. He has been playing some brilliant rugby this season and it is unfortunate that this injury will keep him out of the game.'

Read will stay in Christchurch to focus on his rehabilitation while Jordan Taufua joins his team mates in Cape Town. Vice captain George Whitelock will take up the captaincy role in Reads absence.

Crusaders squad: Dominic Bird, Tyler Bleyendaal, Shane Christie, Wyatt Crockett, Ryan Crotty, Israel Dagg, Tom Donnelly, Andy Ellis, Corey Flynn, Owen Franks, Robbie Fruean, Ben Funnell, Zac Guildford, Willi Heinz, Nepo Laulala, Tom Marshall, Johnny McNicholl, Joe Moody, Luke Romano, Jordan Taufua, Tom Taylor, Matt Todd, Adam Whitelock, George Whitelock, Luke Whitelock, Sam Whitelock.

read is a huge loss for the crusaders, especially against the stormers which will be their toughest game on tour.

i rememeber the crusaders beating a stormers team in inewlands back in 2011, they had no carter, McCaw, andy ellis, sam whitelock, brad thorn, ben franks. then they suffered injuries to fotualii, maitland, dagg. whitelock came on for dagg and was injured himself, this forced matt todd the flanker to go play on the wing.
it was a tremndous effort and the crusdaers had no right to win that match but win it they did.

similar circumstances are satrting to rear in the build up to this match, dagg and owne franks have injury concerns, so losing read is really the icing on the cake, hes the cursaders most important player.

Sasue

Sorry to hear Reid is not coming to SA and that Carter is also missing.     I thought that the Crusaders would have a 50-50 chance against the Stormers - but with those two absent - I think their chances of beating th Stormers and theSharks has been reduced drastically.  

I think their problems will be in the line-outs in the first instance - their line-out performances have been bad this year and I think their forwards are going to be under the hammer.   I have been disappointed by some of their backline players as well thus far this year - both Crotty and Fruen has been poor at times and Dagg was not as effective as he was last year.

I really don't think they are going to get posssession from structured play - even their scrums are going to be difficult and I cannot really see how th backline could handle slow and ineffective balls effectively.   Ballhandling and defence was at times also problematic.

In essence I do not look at hsitory of games as a indication of what is going to happen this year and am afraid that both the Stormers and Sharks games could be lost by the Crusaders.    Dont know what to do with Sam Whitelock at lock in my fantasy selection - he really was poor against a poor Kings team.  Bird is no improvement either.

If the Crusades lose against both the Stormers and th Sharks - it would be bad from a log perspective and difficult to recover in later games.   We will see over the next two weeks what is going to happen.  

@mikey,

 wasnt really saying that past games will be an indication of this wekends game, only that the crusaders have battled thorugh similar adversity in the past with a number of key players out.

i will say that the stormers are slight favourites for this match, but it would be stupid of them to underestimate the saders, something im sure they wont do.

i cant help but feel nothing but confidence when it comes to the sharks though, they had a great game against the rebels, but their form throughout the year has been as bland as it can get, crusaders will have no problem in disposing of them provided they play their usual clinical game.

some real good rugby on this weekend,,,

chiefs v blues,
higlanders v reds
brumbies v bulls,
saders v stormers

awesome awsome rugby.

 The Sharks best game of the season was probably against the Cheetas in Bloemfontein.

It was a solid and commnading performance over a team who have been one of the best performers(out of the mid table type of teams).

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I missed the game against the Rebels so cant comment.

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When the Sharks get our talisman Bismaark back, as well as Alberts. 

Tackling these 2 beasts takes some doing. These two help us get over the advantage line and get solid possesion to run the ball with. Even missing Diesel we dont have enough carriers in the pack.

It was fine against the Rubbel, but not many other teams

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They will not be in time for Crusaders for Bismaark, not sure about Alberts.

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Interesting to see when Tim Whitehead comes into the picture if he will take over the 12 position with Fat Steyn to 15 once he is conditioned more than 118kg. 

 @Sasuke-

awesome awsome rugby.

some real good rugby on this weekend-

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chiefs v blues,    (The Blues need to win, if not it could mean another year of not making the playoffs.

The Crusaders will get stronger as the tournament progresses -like they allways do, so the Blues need to rack up some points earlier than later- or the Chiefs will run away as conference leaders with only Crusaders capable of catching up.).

For the Blues to make the playoffs, they need to get a good start to the tournament and by half way still be a contendor- or the losing culture of recent years will take over once more.

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higlanders v reds    (If the Highlanders lose this, they may start to pencil themselves as finishing the tournament in less than 10th spot).

It a home game against a mid table team. The Reds have a decent positio on the log and could afford to lose. The highlanders cant afford to lose.

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brumbies v bulls    (The Brumbies are allmost certain to win. The Bulls could not beat the Reds with the limited kick and chase plan, so it is unlikely to beat the Brumbies)

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saders v stormers   (The Stormers have beaten the 2 top ranked teams in back to back weekends. It all suggests that the Stormers are regaining the form of recent years). If the Stormers beat Chiefs who are probably better than the Stormers at this stage of the tournament, it would suggest the Stormers are favourites. A win for the Stormers should set them as a one of the play off teams, with still many of the weaker teams cash cow points still available- the Kings, Highlanders, the Rubbels, etc etc)

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The also rans of the tournament to fill up the last  spots look at this stage to be-

1. Kings

2. Highlanders

3. Rubbels

4. Western Force

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Other contendors for bottom of the table less than 10th place include

1. Bulls (Not a succeful overseas tour, unless they win home games and away games in South Africa

2. Hurricanes ( Can they win overseas, if not they should fall apart. The Mark Hammet era has promised much but delivered little except many of the key players to other unions

The Monkey's Table