Julian Savea goes Crusty

Breaking news. Good news for Crusty fans.

Apparently Julian Savea has been scooped up by the Crusaders who have outbidded the Hurricanes for his services next year.

 Stein - read today that reports were premature and he hasn't made a final decision yet? Would be a big blow to the Canes who also lost Lee-Lo to the Crusaders and barely hung onto Barrett it seems. You would think he would want to stay and play with his brother.

If he does leave, could Nonu then find an opening there?

@oimatey,

its all about the bling and the money on offer from the crusaders is quite substantial, on top of that, the money offered by the hurricanes when they first sat down for contract negotiations would have seen savea not even in the top 10 highest paid players in the hurricanes. fair enough u want to save some money where u can, but for a player of his playing stature, it would have been pretty insulting, especially as there are plenty of clubs out there who would have loved to have his services like the crusaders.
 
i wouldnt be surprised either way which way savea ladns down, but with ray lee lo already gone this is going to be a big blow.
jane will be back next year though and matt proctor will start to get more game time now which is good as hes making real good progress and one to lookout for.
 
ray lee lo is an odd one though, saders are prob just covering their bases with fruean and his heart condition, but if fruean and crotty are both fit, but if this is the case, then ray will be lucky to make the bench, maybe he just dosent want to be part of that cockhead coach hammet regime, i can understand that one for sure.
 
the door is left a little more open for nonu at wellington though, but i dont know, i really feel that highlanders is the best place for nonu as that was the only franchise who wanted him.
it makes more sense to me to see nonu at the highlanders where he should play his ass off and stick it to all the kiwi teams that didnt want him.
 
i still believe in u nonu, just cut out those dumb ass tackles FFS, o_O

@mikey,
the alcoholic is still there, lolz, :oP

and u must not have watched the last 4 All Black tests, cos daggs form has been unreal, best fullback in the RC/4nats easy with daylight between him and the next.

Boy lots of angry Hurricane fans venting on forums about this.

Some saying the Crusties can't win a title now they want to buy one.... and the Crusties are the biggest vultures in world rugby .... sheep rustlers...funny az reading some of these comments

Others say Hammet is headhunting for his old franchise...or he should just FK off back to Christchurch.

Hammet's being blamed for losing fans and bums on seats.

Then theirs those that are just calling Savea a traitor,

@cloudy,
Crusty (or better written Krusty) is the clown who appeared on "The Simpsons" and now is playing rugby for the Bulls at FB :P

I can understand Canes' fans upset and I would prefer  that each team could maintain the players that have been developed in their base teams but that's simply impossible to achieve in a professional sport, transfers should be forbidden and that doesn't fit with the professionalism.
Anyway, poaching players goes in both ways (Tom Marshall goes to the chiefs) and it's better to get used to it.
Saying that these are really good news for the saders' fans

Somebody knows where Patrick Osborne will play next season?
Now is playing for Canterbury and if he stays at Christchurch and finally Savea goes there the saders will have a very much improved backline:

At 10: Tom Taylor, Slade and Tylendaal

Centers: Crotty, Fruean, Lee-lo, A. Whitelock

Back3: Savea, Osborne, McNicholl, Dagg

And Carter will join them for the finals. Uaaaaauhhh

@abasquefan,

osbourne is playing for the highlanders next year, real smart move from patrick, cos of gear and poki both leaving plus marshall, going to the chiefs, top that off with a possible SBW return and there really is no room for osbourne with them.

crusaders afre pretty stupid though IMO, they didnt have to spend big money on savea, they could have instead bought patrick whose been solid in all his spXV otuings plus the ITM again.

but what about this for an outside back trio for the highlanders,,,
11 buxton potualii, 14 patrick osbourne, 15 ben smith
IMO it has more then enough potnetial to be better then the gear/poki.smith combo from the last few years.

@cloudy,
oh madame vice prez i just missed u, :o(

glad u had a good time, its not a bad town very AFL happy but has a good league and union following.

been to sydney a few times in the summer and was very humid, so i could imagine brizzy being even crazier, dont like humidity that much, :o/

i think u would enjoy living here too, having friends and family helps the  whole assimilation process go quicker and from what ive heard, houses are much cheaper compared to sydney and brisbane, at least it was a few years ago and im sure rent is the same.

got a bit of family here and my dinky di gf has a huge greek family here, they are pretty nice but too soccer mad, i can watch man united and all whites game, but nothing else outside of that.

i read cruzys epic day at sydney blog, meke times for him and his boys, a real kiwi boys of all ages day out, lolz, :o)

@naru,
that trio for next year landers' outside back looks good, but better than Gear/Poki/Smith? that's very difficult but no doubt I would like to see it. I rate Osborne high, he's powerful and nimble, and sure he will contribute in a big way to improve last season's outcome.
Landers have a very good team and it's difficult to understand what happened last season. They probably need another tighthead prop but the rest of the places are very good covered. They have some experienced players (Woodcock, Hore, Thorn, Ellison) with a lot of rugby on their boots yet and some other youngs pushing strongly like Emery, Sopoaga or TJ Ioane who is IMO one of the most promising loosies in NZ. He played more at 8 but I think he's more a blindside flanker. And even though it's a very good covered position now in the AB with the entrance of Luatua, he has the potential to reach the black.
What I don't understand is that he is playing from the bench for Otago though he had a huge contribution for winning the Ranfury and their other win.

@abasquefan,

agree, i rate patrick osbourne big time too, thought it was stupid they didnt sign him up last year and that desicion came back to bite them on the ass when zacky boy fell to the drink again and back ups mcnicholl and baker both got injured, but the crusaders bounced back in fine style to finish thrid on the table, or technically 4th cos of that retarded rule about automati spots for conferenc leaders.

as for that trio, it has the potential, i rate buxton higher then poki and osbourne is the same type of a winger that gear is, fast and furious dunedin drift, lolz.

every team has its ups and downs, but the highlanders were just like the hsarks and stormers where injuries at the most inoprtune times really hrut them.
their biggest hit was nasi manu who has been super rugbys leading ball carrier and most meters made for any forward for the past couple of seasons before 2013.

thomo heading overseas and then manu getting a season ending injury in the first game was the beginning of the end and while they showed fight in some games, it didnt take much to blow out their candles.
i really think their fortunes will improve next year, they have been NZs worst injury hit team the last few seasons, and they have done well to stay in the fight those other years.

i like tj ioane too, but for me its nasi manu who has the best chance to be an All Black.
i have to admit i dont understand why jospeh plays ioane of the bench though, hes mobile and gets through a shit load of work and his ball carries are almost alwasy over the advanatge line, o_O
maybe theres some aspect in his game which jospeh has indentified, but i cant see it from HD tv, lolz, :oP