Crusaders v Highlanders
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@Stargazer That looks like the best available team. Douglas appears to have the edge on Taufua at present - I'd guess they like having four genuine lineout options.
Our propping rotation is pretty light behind Franks and Moody (and Alaalatoa) with Perry out for most of the season.
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@Chris-B Not sure. I noticed how much better Taufua plays at 8 than at 6 (similar to last year), and better at 8 than Douglas. That may have something to do with it (and with Read back, that means the bench). Taufua can also cover 7; I can't remember Douglas ever playing there.
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@Stargazer Taufua also provided quite a lot of impact off the bench last week - but, won't surprise me if we mainly see Douglas at 6 from now on and mainly see Jordan coming off the bench (though Razor will doubtless keep a bit of rotation going - similar to Hall and Drummond).
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Crusaders v Highlanders @ Christchurch Stadium, Christchurch
Referee Ben O'Keeffe
AR1 Damon Murphy
AR2 Angus Gardner
TMO Glenn Newman -
The front row battle will be interesting, particularly Lomax (who was very good against the Canes) vs Moody. I would have taken Ayden Johnstone instead of DLB to test Michael Alaalatoa at scrum time. This youngster can scrum and I don't remember having seen him in trouble in this phase.
However, I'd pick the Crusaders to win by a 10+ point margin.