Wet weather rugby masterclass

Crusaders win over Highlanders proves they're the perfect wet weather team 22 Jul, 2017 9:21pm
By: Gregor Paul

If the weather stays as awful as it has been, stick the mortgage on the Crusaders.

No side loves the rain and wind as much as they do and if the Highlanders are the ultimate playoff team given their attitude and spirit, then the Crusaders are the perfect atrocious weather team given the raw power, brutality and cohesion of their pack.

In a mud bath such as they encountered, they were in their element. The Highlanders left Dunedin in a state of emergency only to find themselves in a similar state once they were 10 minutes into the game.

There was never much of a contest, not the one everyone had hoped for. Not one that gave the Highlanders a fair chance because they simply couldn't compete with a Crusaders team that not only did all the right things, but did them so well.

The nature and style of their victory will have done an enormous amount to boost their confidence which would have been dented by their last two less than convincing performances.

But with the rot stopped and now only four teams left, they will have an increased sense that this could, finally, once again be their year.

It has been a while since they had home advantage in the playoffs and that's all important. Not just for the statistically obvious either. The home side has won 80 per cent of the knockout games since 1996.

But there's an added element to playing at home for the Crusaders which is that Christchurch can be a hostile place in mid-winter.

At this time of year it can be no place for running rugby. Even if the conditions aren't as bad as they were for the quarter-final - and they were awful - it is still not really a ground that lends itself to pass and catch and those teams who like to play wide-wide.

Which suits the Crusaders just fine because their pack loves nothing more than a slug fest. That's their strength. Their lineout, with Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock and Scott Barrett was superb.

Their pick and go was relentless and effective. Big men were on hand to smash it up and their ball retention was excellent. There was no hurry or panic about their work - just this certainty that they could grind their way forward at a pace that suited them.

Which they did. Scoring two up the jumper tries that the Highlanders never had any chance of stopping.

Bryn Hall and Richie Mo'unga kicked well and so too did Israel Dagg. They turned the Highlanders, found space and gained territory and they did it so well in fact, it was as if they had learned plenty from playing against the British and Irish Lions a few weeks ago.

But the star of their show and what sets them up so well to push on this competition, is their scrummaging. It's a weapon.

They can crush just about any team with it and on a heavy field, with space at a premium and opportunities minimal, to be able to scrum for penalties is a little piece of gold.

The tight five were the heroes of the hour and they will be ready and willing to back that up this week. Winter rugby is their time to shine; their chance to roll up their sleeves and flex their muscles.

The Crusaders will be quite happy for the heavens to stay open all week and keep their home patch as a swamp.

Tough grinding game - mud & rain reminded me of the good old days at Athletic Park Congrats to the Saders, Landers gave it everything but it was mission impossible.

 epic game under the heavy rain,.... pure old-school rugby,.... and so well executed,.... enjoyed very much watching it,....

Sam Whitelock was superb,... his work rate is colossal and makes him the team's engine,.... lineouts' master,... excellent captaining,....
Taufua was also outstanding,.... he's pure strength and physicality,... so hard to stop when carrying the ball,.... completely outplayed Squire,... he's the inform blindside in SR,... I cannot understand he's not called to the AB
the whole forward's pack worked really hard
B. Hall had his best game by far with the saders,.... outplayed A. Smith, even box-kicking,... which is itself an accomplishment,.... commanded the forwards' attack perfectly well,.... his game suits the bad weather,... but with better conditions I would prefer to have Drummond s tarting at 9,.... he arrives faster to the rucks, serves faster (has one of the best and fastest passes), moves the team better, varies more the game,...

 ...Mo'unga looks so much better than Sopoaga now...and i wonder if Mo'unga will make the EOYT because he'd be one of the competitions most underated players - he deserves kudos for an impressive couple of seasons...replacing DC is no mean feat and was'nt he originally only supposed to be a backup for Volavola  - Hansen would have to be pretty dopey not to bring him in to the ABs on that form now..
...am looking forward to an epic battle with the Crusties next week...the Chiefs looked a bit average against the Stormers this morning but as Cruden said it was better to win ugly than lose pretty....so it's all uphill for us now but it aint over til it's over - Lenny Kravitz...matchup between Cruden and Mo'unga will be a goodie- palenty of good matchups all over the park with AB on AB...mouth watering stuff

...Ben Smith does'nt look his old self either - he really needs a rest after getting hammered all year...the Landers are so heavily reliant on his leadership so lets hope he's back to 100% after his sabbatical...i think they also missed Faddes in their backline but the game last night was won in the forwards and the Landers forwards weren't no match for the Crusties in the wet...

 now Cruden is gone (for the AB), and won't be elegible for the RC (French Top14 begins in August), the battle for the flyhalf back-up spot is totally open

and seems to be a battle btwin Sopoaga, D. Mckenzie and Mo'unga,.... yeah, currently Mo'unga is playing far better than Sopoaga,....
I see McKenzie more like a FB than a flyhalf but this versatility is an important factor for the bench spot,.... Mo'unga can also play FB (though he's far better flyhalf than FB),.... we will see soon who's the choosen

but what could be quite worrying for the AB is BB's late form,.... in his lasts games seems out of form,... seems obstinate in breaking the defensive line by himself alone and doesn't distribute the ball as he should (yesterday, e.g. Laumape was almost like another spectator),... his cross-kicking is losing efectivity

 With the Saders playing so well under Robertson you have to ask if Blackadder was a crap coach. He never seemed to get them to play up to their potential.

 ...i've always maintained BB is a fullback and paired with Dagg at the back doubling up our last line of defence we beat the Lions easily in the first test.. and Barret kicked better without the added pressure of controlling the play at 10...he like McKenzie need space to weave their magic so should'nt be considered as first option at 10
..alot of the success the ABs have experienced in the recent past was with BB at 22...since he's overtaken Cruden as starter we've lost to South Africa , Ireland and the Lions...meanwhile Cruden leaves NZ with a 100% winning record from all the games he's started for the ABs at 10 ...can't blame him for going after given token roles..
that's why i'd bring in Mo'unga now as specialist 10 - the Mo'unga /Crotty combo would work as its already established at SR level..Jordy also looks better at centre than fullback but what Hansen has planned is anybody's guess 

 The wee kiwi fellows looked like ducks in water! They clearly enjoyed the mud as well! I could think of another animal analogy but kindness restrains me!

 JW,

Blackadder should have been fired after his 4th year, the later,.... instead he was there for 8 years,..... and though he had a good amount of bad luck (the 2011 earthquake, 2014 final,..) he was unable to find a way to exploit the superiority of the saders' forward pack

He used the forward pack as the platform to get quality ball to the backline, and then open wide the ball and go from side to side,... obviously the best pack of the comp provided quality ball and the team was able to be btwin the bests (and were probably the bests in 2011 and 2014),.... but there wasn't any B-Plan or alternative when things weren't going their way,... and this happened mainly with rushing defenses and a few times with atrocious weather like yesterday's

in this sense it's very telling to compare yesterday's game with the first played against the Chiefs in Fiji under similar weather conditions,... in that first game in fiji with Blackadder the saders spent the whole game trying to play ball in hand and to open it wide,.... and once and again they were losing the ball, handling errors, mistakes, turnovers,.... what always happens under atrocious weather conditions,.... the chiefs just needed to wait for their mistakes and benefit from them,.... which they did to win the game
the weather conditions didn't allow the type of game Blackadder was applying but the saders stick to it for the whole game, there was no possible change to the gameplan or any B-Plan,.... and they, obviously, lost

With Robertson, instead, the saders have developed a gameplan to play tight with the forwards,.... instead of opening the ball wide to the backline, basing the gameplan in the use (and maximization of) the best forward pack of the competition through constant pick&goes or through one pass to a forward (or a couple of passes btwin forwards as max),.... yesterday they used it as their A-plan, accompanied by constant kicks for territory or high kicks in attack over the 22 line to provoke mistakes,....
but they began to use it earlier in the season,... they used this forwards' tight game in the firsts games of the season when they were 15-20 points down against the landers, reds and blues,.... the succesful coming-backs in these games were based in the use of the forwards,.... this meaning that Robertson considers that in case of things go the wrong way he can trust the forward pack to deliver,... this possibilty of using to its max potential the best forward pack (with the best scrum and the best lineout) was behind the unbeaten streak and it wouldn't be any surprise if it's used again in the finals,....

Robertson also introduced the rushing defence in the team,.... improving big way the defensive attitude,... he's personally in charge of the team's defense and gives too much importance to it,... it's said that he's like a bookish of the defensive patterns,... he's been 3-4 times in Rugby League summer camps with the best defensive coaches stud ying their patterns

 Robertson is getting results, we will have to see if they can win the S18 but so far so good. If he wins it he will be judged a better coach than Blackadder.

 BEING A BETTER COACH T HAN BLACKUDDER IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION jw!