Another lucky break for the Stormers after Dagg pulls a hamstring. The Crusaders now face an uphill battle without their fullback Dagg , first five Carter and captains Read and McCaw. How easy can it get for the Stormers? Surely they have no reasons now for losing against a seriously weakened Crusader side. No doubt the Sharks will also be smelling blood in the water .
excuses allready Fat Yarpy?
the sharks and Stormers are also missing players
Sharkbok we are talking top quality players that the Kiwis are missing . Not sure whether the Sharks and Stormers possess the equivalent do they? I wouldn't be lulled into a false sense of security though as the Crusaders are still a dangerous beast .
I'm pretty sure I'd class Habana, Etzebeth and Bismark in the same category as Dagg etc!
Shezza you missed Shalk Burger and have now incurred the wrath of Beeno . Lord have mercy on your soul.
@ shezza,
ezebeth bismarck and habana are in the same category as dagg but dagg has been more ifluential for the saders this year then habana has for the stormers while the ezebeth & bizzy havent even played a single game.
but thats three elite players from two teams, crusaders are still missing McCaw, kerean read & daniel carter, the losses of elite players ion both the sharks and stormers dont come close to balancing that scale.
bad news for the crusaders, match was already going to be a hard pone.
in order for the saders to win theyre going to need, crotty, fruean, owen, flynn, ellis, g & s whitelock, romano, crockett to all step up & lead the way, nothing short of flawless crusader fundamentals & teamwork teamwork teamwork.
stormers was always going to be a tough ask, even if the crusaders wee fully fit, i really rate the stormers, but im not worried about the sharks at all, they have esily been the most disappointing team for 2013, they have changed their balanced 2012 style of rugby for a boring 10 man rugby game.
rebels have given the shark fans hope about a chnage in direction regarding that style, but im not buying it one bit.
congrats to the cheeaths for sticking with their style from 2012, they have been entyertaining and IMO are curretlly SA 2nd best team.
good luck with the stormers crusaders ur going to need it, give it ur all this week, u can relax afterwards cos u got a easy win in durban the following week, lolz :o)
I wonder when Tim Whitehead is going to be back.
He was in top form last year for the Sharks at inside center.
I have allways found the Sharks have their best performances when we have a quality inside center.
Meyer Boesman has been dissapointing in his time with the Sharks, and player better at the Cheetas.
Although apparently he has been carrying injuries for most of his time, and this year injury free for the first time.
Bosman did look to be a better link player than the overweight Frans Steyn who has been hogging the ball as if it was his last meal.
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The Sharks are missing-
Bismaark - The best hooker in the world
Alberts- the Strongest most brutish loose forward in world rugby. He loves to dominate the advantage line and smash the opposition who try tackle him into submission
-Tim Whitehead. A quality center who is a good distributor and ideal for the 15 man game.
Thin Steyn- Instead we have the overweight twin brother Fat Steyn.
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- it should be noted that the Sharks were average in the 1st half of the SuperXV last year. Only in the 2nd half of the tournament did the Sharks become the top team in the tournament.
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-Israel Dagg has not been great so far this year
-Carter the best flyhalf in the world who usually steps up for the big games will be missed.
-Mccaw although possibally past his best, is still very effective on the ground, sometimes illegally when his forwards are being dominated.
- Read is good, but I think Alberts when in top form can be more influentual.
Sasue
I did not heard or seen anything on the news sites. Is Dagg really going to miss the game against the Stormers? If so- you will be had hit in your fantasy selections and the Crusaders in further trouble than they already are.
Matter of fact they will also struggle against the Sharks without their top players. I do not think that Crotty is up to standard and Fruen has not been very good this year. Without a top performing backline they are going to be up against it and in that respect Dagg is an essential.
If the Crusaders loses both games in SA they will be hard presed to feature in the top 6 teams on the log - so for their sake I hope they can make that level on the log.
All teams have to plan for and manage injuries to key players so this should never be used as an excuse or justification for a loss. Besides, the Crusaders have been more successful than most when playing with a team deprived of a number of first choice players. They somehow manage to integrate replacement players without losing too much team cohesion and efficacy.
As sasu mentioned earlier, this was always going to be a difficult task for the Crusaders, even if they were able to field all of their star players, but if any team is capable of beating the Stormers at home it would have to be the Crusaders. Playing at Newlands is almost as good as playing at home given all the support they enjoy from the Cape Crusaders. Come on 'Saders!
nukefreekiwi
I know why Carter likes Cape Town so much - and it has nothing to do with rugby. However, it is indeed bad that Dagg is out now as well. Without two top players - they are in trouble - with four it is going to be even more of a problem fo them - really a mountain to climb (and Table Mountai is near enough to Newlands as it is).
Another All Black in the making announced today.
Dan Carter and his wife have announced the birth of a baby boy born on March 28. Marco James Carter. Give him a couple of years though before we see him running around in the black jersey.
@mikey,
nah im covered, ive got charles piutau on the bench, if a player in foxsport dosent play, he is automatically subsituted for ur bench player.
i was screwed last week though cos i had julian savea on the bench who had a bye.
very happy i didnt make savea captain like i was going to, dodged a bullet big time there, just hope that deon fourie has a big one.
losing dagg is a massive loss for the crusaders, thats pretty much trhe crusaders minus their 4 best players, but thats still nothing compared to the injuries in 2011, where they missed frontline players then had the biggest in game injury count ive ever seen, they ended up playing matt todd a flnaker on the wing and the bench had no backs on the 30min mark and was completely empty by the 55th minute.
enfd of the day, crusaders are still the crusaders and while i know they can still beat the stormers, im not expecting them too.
capetwon may be filled with some super hot chicks, but it will be a look dont touch policy, every team in the comp have policies regarding the fratenizing with chicks. the amount of trouble that can be caused by chicks is too much for most clubs.
even NZ u20 have a policy in regards to that and when that hooker broke team policy and brought a girl back to his hotel, he ended up being under investigation for rrape, cos the stupid ho bag was to drunk to remeber what happened, o_O
professinal era really is professional. though what carter does in SA outside the rugby scene would be intresting, though im sure mrs carter would have a say, LMAO, :oD
