Crusaders 2018

booboo

@stargazer said in Crusaders 2018:

@kiwimurph What will probably hurt the Crusaders most is the unavailability of Moody and Franks until some time in May (and to a lesser extent Dagg's injury). Crockett and Ala'alato are fine replacements; I'm not so sure about the players who take their spots on the bench though.

Apparently Ollie Jager is pretty good ...

cgrant

And Perry, too.

Stargazer

The Crusaders squad for 2018 has been announced. I have added the position where I think they'll most likely to play, even though they may officially also be capable of playing in other positions:

CRUSADERS SQUAD

PROPS
Michael Alaalatoa
Wyatt Crockett
Owen Franks
Oliver Jager
Joe Moody
Tim Perry

HOOKERS
Ben Funnell
Andrew Makalio
Codie Taylor

LOCKS
Scott Barrett
Luke Romano
Quinten Strange
Sam Whitelock

LOOSE FORWARDS
Ethan Blackadder
Mitchell Dunshea
Billy Harmon
Kieran Read
Pete Samu
Tom Sanders
Jordan Taufua
Matt Todd

HALFBACKS
Mitchell Drummond
Bryn Hall
Jack Stratton

FIRST FIVE-EIGHTHS
Mike Delany
Mitchell Hunt
Richie Mo'unga

MIDFIELD BACKS
Tim Bateman
Ryan Crotty
Jack Goodhue

OUTSIDE BACKS
George Bridge
Israel Dagg
Braydon Ennor
David Havili
Will Jordan
Jone Macilai
Manasa Mataele
Seta Tamanivalu

Jed Brown (injured) Ethan Blackadder
Heiden Bedwell-Curtis Billy Harmon
Leon Fukofuka Ere Enari (injured) Jack Stratton
Marty McKenzie Mike Delaney
Sean Wainui, Sione Fifita, Digby Ioane Braydon Ennor, Will Jordan

http://crusaders.co.nz/news/1158-seven-new-names-in-2018-bnz-crusaders-squad

Stargazer

SammyC

Good to see the back of Wainui, Fukafuka and MacKenzie....

Jeez they were some boneheaded signings by Blackadder. None deserved the multi year deals they were on.

Tim

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/98452433/crusaders-unsure-if-all-blacks-captain-kieran-read-will-be-available-for-start-of-season

Wurzel

So with Read a likely non-starter and Taufua still recovering from his broken arm in the early rounds we might need to call up Whetu Douglas to cover No 8 again!

... or more seriously - and in a similar vein - I'd be happy to get Jordan Manihera involved for those early rounds.

Billy Tell

Happy enough with that squad. Only hope Delaney is there for a mentoring role and not to actually play any games...

cgrant

Harsh for Bedwell-Curtis who was very good during the 2017 SR season. Otherwise, I am rather happy with this squad. It looks stronger than the former.

Crucial

@billy-tell said in Crusaders 2018:

Happy enough with that squad. Only hope Delaney is there for a mentoring role and not to actually play any games...

Yep, exactly the situation with Kirkpatrick at the Blues. The young 10s will all benefit from having these guys run behind them at training pointing out options.
They may not be the best playing 10s but are the type that generally make good coaches and squaddies.

Crash

This is what I like to see - back to business as usual

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/99396021/sweat-set-to-flow-as-crusaders-launch-into-preseason-training-ahead-of-super-rugby-title-defence

Stargazer

Crusaders Knights squad 2018:

Player - Province
Ryan Coxon - Ta$man
Harrison Allan - Canterbury
Samuel Matenga - Canterbury
Blair Prinsep - Ta$man
Nathan Vella - Canterbury
Sam Moli - Ta$man
Hamish Dalzell - Canterbury
Ben Morris - Canterbury
Will Tucker - Canterbury
Te Ahiwaru Cirikidaveta - Ta$man
Tom Christie - Canterbury
Anty Burnett - Ta$man
Dylan Nel - Canterbury
Sam Godwin - Canterbury
Ryota Hasegawa - Crusaders IHPU
Jack Grooby - Ta$man
Harrison Kirk - Canterbury
Jonny Van der Valde - Canterbury
Brett Cameron - Canterbury
Rameka Poihipi - Canterbury
James Hawkey - Ta$man
Dallas McLeod - Canterbury
Ngane Punivai - Canterbury
Rupena Parkinson - Ta$man
Tima Faingaanuku - Ta$man
Leicester Faingaanuku - Ta$man
Takuya Yamasawa - Crusaders IHPU
Tomas Aoake - Ta$man
Zach McKay - Canterbury
Jamie Spowart - Ta$man

Crusaders Knights schedule 2018:

Sunday 25 February: v Hurricanes, 1pm at Linfield Park, Christchurch
Saturday 10 March: v Highlanders, 1:30pm at Linfield Park, Christchurch
Saturday 17 March: v Highlanders, 5pm at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin

https://crusaders.co.nz/news/1173-19-new-names-in-2018-crusaders-knights-squad

Stargazer

The Crusaders Knight suffered a big loss to the Canes Development team this afternoon: 36 - 71

Chris B.

@stargazer Wow - I think I saw the two teams earlier and thought the Crusader Knights looked significantly stronger!

cgrant

Is there a video of the game ?

taniwharugby

haha, liked this:

"I managed to bench press 40kg, six times. That was my max," Romano said. "And then he wanted me to do some chin-ups, and I was sort of hanging off the bar. He was like 'righto, you can start doing a chin-up' and I was like 'I have been trying for the last 10 seconds'.

But even better is one of the comments, which is surely trolling!

Pom of Britain
Well, a pretty poor player by international standards. I know he struggles when he faces forward packs from the north as he can't handle their physicality. He is not very strong and his mobility is very poor. Not a strong scrummager either so he doesn't make a good lock. Wouldn't sniff the England team.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/101911602/late-bloomer-luke-romano-morphs-from-skinny-little-white-boy-to-all-blacks-lock

Stargazer

The Crusaders will play the Western Force on 22 June in Perth.

Stargazer

More details:

 The Crusaders will play in a series Aussie billionaire Andrew Forrest has organised for axed Super Rugby club the Western Force this year.

World Series Rugby will pit seven teams against the Force with the Crusaders slated to play on June 22 in Perth during the international window.

Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Hong Kong, the Rebels and a Japanese team make the other opponents.

There are also dramatic new rules, including a try being worth 10 points and a time frame for scrums and lineouts.

 WSR invitational matches in 2018

May 4 v Fiji

May 13 v Tonga

June 9 v Rebels

June 22 v Crusaders

July 13 v Samoa

Aug 10 v Hong Kong

Aug 17 TBA

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12007898&ref=rss

mariner4life

Why do Australians hate rugby so much?

pukunui

Some power houses of rugby there, the series the rugby world ha sbeen waiting for.
I hope the crusaders are getting paid a lot for this game.

The Silver Fern

Crusaders 2018