Crusaders... game of the season

[BDAVEY]

Now we are getting agood balanced team....... win on Sat and our season is back on track.... Brumbies and the Rebels lose again and we are up there. Tahs have been hit hard with injuries........poetry

Sheps
Cummins
Sidley
Dellit
joc
willie
Shens
Ben Mac
BamBam
Browny
Sharpie
Sam
Fairbrother or KB
Charles
Pek

Res: Hodsie, Hosking, hooker, Dunning/KB, Smith, Inman, Stannard

[GIGS20]

Brown and Sidey to bench cullet to 13 smith and Hodgeo on dellit to wing somebody has to stop SBW if he plays........I'd make that Hodgeo's mission!

[benny]

With Andy Ellis, Brad Thorn and Kieran Read injuried / didn't board the plane to Perth, and Dan Carter not match fit (after having played only 60 minutes in the past 5 weeks) plus Richie McCaw being the 3rd referee only and looks like coming off the bench.

Forwards: - We know the pack operates around the leadership of Thorn - McCaw - Read, and with only 1 of these 3 players on 1 leg (McCaw) we should be able to hold our head high, espically with the return of BamBam & Hodgson even if it is for 60 minutes combined.

Backs: There little Tongan scrumhalf, and Brenquest isn't up to Super rugby (IMHO) and with Dagg and SBW there only powerhouse backs we should have the firepower outwide to tackle - bust their tackles and rack up the points.

[jono]

fruen will be interesting to shut down. he's had a freaken awesome season so far

[James]

Pretty sure Read isn't injured. Sam Whitelock is though.

I'd revert to the tactical kicking game we used against the Brumbies. The Crusaders' line-out will be at its weakest and if we can suck the Crusaders into a structured match it will minimize the impact of your Daggs and your Guildfords and your Frueans. Matt Berquist isn't the distributor or the danger runner or the kicker that Carter is.

We beat them last year because our pack worked as a pack and wanted it more. All three of our tries were scored by forwards.

[Burgs]

Yep, certainly can't afford an open running match with this one.
To win the Force will need to be clinical to the point of boring and maximise points every time we get in their 22.
Might not be pretty but I'll take a win of the Saders and a third in a row in this instance.

[James]

I think we have their number in the line-outs and probably the breakdown over 80 minutes. We will have to man up big time in the scrums because they'll have a big advantage there. We probably have better kickers than they do but their running and attack will be better. If we can defend like we did against the Bulls hopefully we can neutralize them and win it off the back of O'Connors kicking excellence.

[AndyS]

Brown and Sidey to bench cullet to 13 smith and Hodgeo on dellit to wing somebody has to stop SBW if he plays........I'd make that Hodgeo's mission!

You don't just stop SBW, you also target the guy to whom he'll throw the offload. Come hell or high water he will look to offload, so we need to make it difficult and a bad idea; see if he can adjust and is prepared to back himself against our scavengers.

[GIGS20]

You don't just stop SBW, you also target the guy to whom he'll throw the offload. Come hell or high water he will look to offload, so we need to make it difficult and a bad idea; see if he can adjust and is prepared to back himself against our scavengers.

That's why you assign Hodgeo the job of making him have a bad day, JOC and Willie get the job of smashing crap out of his support runners and making them not want to fill the lanes.

Add to that Bam and Benny Mac wreaking havoc where they can and it'll probably force them to kick......as long as Dan isn't the kicker for too long, we should be able to handle that!

[benny]

Pretty sure Read isn't injured. Sam Whitelock is though.

I'd revert to the tactical kicking game we used against the Brumbies. The Crusaders' line-out will be at its weakest and if we can suck the Crusaders into a structured match it will minimize the impact of your Daggs and your Guildfords and your Frueans. Matt Berquist isn't the distributor or the danger runner or the kicker that Carter is.

We beat them last year because our pack worked as a pack and wanted it more. All three of our tries were scored by forwards.

Jimmy, Read wasn't on the Plane yesterday when they arrived ? and talking to McCaw its there "little league" team they have brought over (due to injuries)

As they always say in League, wrap up that ball and the job is done, if we can get rid of SBW basketball hands and the running power of him we will win.. My eyes put Patty on him in defence and JOC to the wing, but reverse in Attack.

[James]

I would be the first person to woohoo no Read. I had just thought that he was being rested against the Crusaders. Great news.

[BDAVEY]

Ball retention will be the key... give them the ball and they will run at you all day. Having Bam Bam wiull help retain this at te breakdown period where we have losing the turnmover ball

[AndyS]

I'd still be pretty damn wary of their "little league" - they are the stand-by guys for probably the best club team in the world for a reason! That the Crusaders are even talking like that shows what a great job they are doing of claiming the underdog tag for this match, while making damn sure that their team is bloody hungry with a big point to prove. They'll still be easily the best team we will have faced this year, and we'll have to step up at least one big gear from last week if we aren't to be well embarrassed.

[zimeric]

woah boy on the "best" team tag... there are a few teams up for that label at the moment so jury is still out

[Rex Messup]

The NZ rugby production line churns out more high class rugby pedigrees than the Russian war machine turned out tanks after Stalingrad.

It is a mistake to think the Crusaders replacements won't step up. These lads are hungry and keen to make a claim for a regular berth.

Our midfield defence will need to be tip top

$BW needs to get gang tackled hard by our rampaging backrow and belted. If he gets one on one with our midfield midgets he'll offload to runners and we'll get carved up.

Our backrow needs to dominate the breakdown and our scrum needs to step up.

I think we'll struggle to score points. Our backline has been ordinary.

The only good thing about our spoony coach being in charge of the Force is that the wallaby backline no longer takes direction from him. Great for national chances...bad for Force.