Just a question to my New Zealand friends on this site.
Over the last few years the Crusaders start of their Super 15 campaign rather poorly and then towards the middle and end of Super 15 they would improve drastically and be involved in the play-offs. This year seems to reflect a somewhat different scenario if their results are anything to go by - winning teams highlighted:-
Round 1 : Crusaders 10 - Rebels 20
Round 2 : Crusaders 26 - Highlanders 20
Round 3 : Crusaders 16 - Chiefs 40
Round 5 : Crusaders 34 - Lions 6
Round 6 : Crusaders 57 - Cheetahs 14
Round 7 : Crusaders 19 - Bulls 31
Round 8 : Crusaders 52 - Sharks 10
Round 9 : Crusaders 20 - Highlanders 25
They thus far this year had 3 easy wins against weaker teams and only in 1 game beat a stronger team. Their 4 losses entails 1 against a weaker team and 3 against stronger teams.
On Saturday they are up against the Chiefs and if they lose I am afraid they will have a hard time getting into the play-offs this year. They then would have lost 3 out of their last 4 games - so unlike in the past there would be very little momentum in the middle stage of the tournament. There outstanding games are as follows:-
Round 11 - Blues *
Round 12 - Hurricanes
Round 13 - Reds *
Round 14 - Bye
Round 15 - Waratahs
Round 16 - Hurricanes
Round 17 - Blues *
Round 18 - Brumbies
They have 7 matches to play. Three are against weaker teams (marked by an asterisk). They should win those - but the Blues games could be tricky. 4 games are against stronger teams and if their record thus far is anything to go by they may lose 3 of those. 4 wins in the outstanding 7 matches will not be enough to get them into the play-offs I believe.
Obviously the whole scenario depends on how competing teams are going to perform. However, what do you feel would happen in their case.
