crusaders expose stormers frailties,,,

Crusaders expose Stormers' frailties

Even without Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Kieran Read and Israel Dagg, the Crusaders produced a game plan that out-managed the home side in Cape Town.

Blackadder said after the game: "We knew the Stormers' set-piece was critical to their game, and the guys have just done a lot of hard work [in that area] this week.

"We put them under pressure and it doesn't happen by accident. We really prepared well for this week so we got a really good outcome," he said.

Coach Allister Coetzee lamented the Stormers' mistakes.

"Clearly this team stands for physicality, which we brought, and the attitude was unbelievable. Even with 14 men on the field we defended like Trojans.

"But you can't play this game if you can't win your set-piece, and especially youre linout; that's where we battled. That's why we couldn't put them under pressure with ball in hand," Coetzee said after the match.

Given the hopes the side had in its lineout, it proved a liability against the Crusaders.

"Our lineout was non-existent. The Crusaders also had some skew lineouts; there will always be a couple. But we lost six, and I know that's not good enough at this level," Coetzee said.

"It's not just a throwing-in issue. There are a number of [reasons] we must look at and hopefully fix."

"After we lost our first lineout it became increasingly difficult to get a hold on the game because our execution [at the set-piece] was not sharp at all."

Deon Fourie's throwing is a concern as Tiaan Liebenberg, their preferred hooker and and a key contributor with his lineout throwing, has been injured while another option Scarra Ntubeni is still to return from a long layoff.

Captain Jean de Villiers denied there was a mental hurdle for his side when playing the Crusaders.

"I don't it's the opposition that's the problem. It was the execution of the team, the mindset of the individual and just the way we played. It really felt as if we made so muchy progress in the last two games, and we've let it slip again this time," he said.

some interesting comments from allistar coetzee, he seems to blame deon fourie for most of their lineout woes.
IMO it wasnt so much deon fouries poor throwing, it was the crusaders homework and execution from the dynamic duo lock stars of sam whitelock and luke romano>
when u watch the lineouts, all whitelock and romano and the other memebrs of the crusaders forward pack do is watch every movement from thier oppoisite number, as soon as they see them move, they make sure they leap both faster and in front of them.
very effective tactics as ive never seen anyones lineouts be so completely dominated like that, what makes it even sweeter or bitter depending on ur point of veiw is that is was a SA lineout.

IMO liebenberg wouldnt have changed much lineout wise, but it could of helped with their scrum which was also an area of concern. i love how crusaders E team has left the uchiha clan with a huge smirk on our gace with all the wee NZ forward comments, LMAO, :oD

 Sasuke, the lineout throwing was rubbish. This is not the first game this season when Deon Fourie was throwing in.

Only Craig Burden for the Sharks has a worse throw. 

Liebenberg is a much better thrower of the ball and this was clear when watching the games he played vs when Deon Fourie was playing.

So many times the ball was overthrown, so it was clearly the thrower and not the jumper. 

Good jumpers will typically take the ball.

Good game - probably game of the round...

Im working on a theory that every visitng side plays their best rugby on the first game and then travel weariness effects them and 2nd game struggle a bit.'

Saw this with the Bulls / Brumbies / Chiefs... question is will Sharks have an easier time against a 'wearier' crusaders team next week...?

I think sharks will beat them.

Credit to the cruasders looks like the brumbies game left a bit of a hangover for the stromers and they couldnt match it...

Lineout wins to canterbury was pretty amazing considering becker is about 10cms taller than anyone.....

@redsman,
cheetahs first game of their NZ/OZ tour saw them get raped 45-3 by the chiefs.

to say nothing of the rebels/sharks game, but as u well know those aussie clubs are nothing but any eye sore and a chacne for australias stronger clubs to get some nice easy points, i mean who wouldnt love to play the waratahs, rebels and force twice in one season???? o_O

@sharkbok,
it takes two to tango and the stormers try was on the back of some pinpoint accurate throwing courtsey fourie.
each to their own, but IMO the crusaders had the edge over bekker and de kok both physically and eventually mentally during the game.

Wellington and highlanders proving to be easy beats for aussie teams... Only Aussie team not competitive this year is rebels.

NZ good times are over I tell you now - Wallabies reign as soon as they get rid of that stupid kiwi coach and bring Link McK into the role he's destined for you will see domination by the wallabies for a decade.

Blues are kiwis 3rd best team and they lost to the tahs so what are u saying about kiwi conference....?

I thought Jake White is the next Wallabies Coach and he is going to bring Eddie Jones back with him from Japan??

@redsman,
no shame in losing to the reds, but as for the waratahs win over the blues, its called an anomoly, blues were shit in that game though looked weak & made more handaling errors then any team in any game this year & the waratahs still only scrapped through???
thats like making noise about the sharks who lost to the lions last year, or the brumbies who couldnt even get a single solitary bonus point against the blues in order to make the finals.

there will always be upsets in rugby, just look at how the reds got pwned by the force, and the force couldnt even beat the kings, o_O
a little perspective wouldnt hurt u at all, so lets cut the charade and stop pretending that OZ confernce isnt the joke we all know it is.
reds and brumbies are the only decent teams the rest are kak, i hope u havent forgotten the PC fat kid rule which saw the reds finish 3rd last year on the combined conference, despite having less points then the crusaders, bulls & sharks, i mean what a sad joke.

i also noticed u avoid commenting on the SBW article??? i dont blame u though ur hatered for the man can only have intesfied now that australian rugby league legends are calling him and unbelievable genius, a far cry from ur frothing in the mouth rants about him aye???, LMAO, :oP

RE Tahs - well they can only get better - I think Tahs will end up toward top end of combined conference now - they seem to be getting a roll on and (yes Rebels suck and Force are the unluckiest losers on the planet) but think you'll find aussie conference much tougher than previous years not to mention (and hope) wallabies too...  Plus... Israel is picking up this game pretty quick his plays on the weekend show that his learning how to take a tackle and hit breakdowns... impact player off the bench for Lions tour is my tip... (provided that deans isnt tooooo stupid and puts overrated crap Tah players like AAC or Horne or Barnes in instead)

RE Deans - Best thing for Australian rugby is to get a coach who isnt a diehard allblack fan at heart and replace him with someone who brings passion to the country's team that this kiwi couldnt.......... My feeling is that Link McK is already annointed - I wish Deans went before the Lions... another foolhardy legacy left by ARU under John Oneill.

RE SBW - hes definitely gained some class playing rugby - class that 99.999% of league boguns will never know or understand. He is a talented athlete and his stint playing an international code has given him a massive edge - if nothing more than simply being more 'educated'. Physically though he is not as dominate when he left the game and actually looks no bigger than any other avergae back rower playing league... but to be frank watched half a game v souths round 1 and havent seen him since... league bores me...

 RE Conference system for s15 - never have, never will be a fan - half the games per round are uninteresting local derbys between foreign or local teams that I couldnt be bothered watching... but I dont make the rules and in any case the Reds were severely rorted by notorious cheating saffa ref Kaplan v Sharks (and ridiculous suspension to QC) to obviously compensate for the perceived injustices that the whinging kiwis and saffas vocalised re conference rules...