Reds v Crusaders
-
The Reds' team has been named:
1 James Slipper (C), 2. Stephen Moore, 3. Sam Talakai, 4. Rob Simmons, 5. Izack Rodda (run-on debut), 6. Hendrik Tui, 7. George Smith, 8. Scott Higginbotham
9 Nick Frisby, 10. Quade Cooper, 11. Eto Nabuli, 12. Duncan Paia’aua, 13. Samu Kerevi, 14. Izaia Perese (run-on debut), 15. Karmichael HuntReserves:
16 Andrew Ready, 17. Sef Fa’agase, 18. Taniela Tupou, 19. Kane Douglas, 20. Adam Korczyk, 21. James Tuttle, 22. Jake McIntyre, 23. Chris Kuridrani -
The Crusaders should absolutely crush that pack.
-
@mariner4life said in Reds v Crusaders:
The Crusaders should absolutely crush that pack.
Thousands of points! That team may even make the Cantab backs look good
-
-
@Stargazer I thought that Taufua was injured? Also, they probably want a bit more size in their loose trio.
-
Crusaders:
1 Joe Moody
2 Codie Taylor
3 Michael Alaalatoa
4 Scott Barrett
5 Sam Whitelock (c)
6 Pete Samu
7 Heiden Bedwell-Curtis
8 Whetu Douglas
9 Mitchell Drummond
10 Mitchell Hunt
11 Digby Ioane
12 Ryan Crotty (vc)
13 Jack Goodhue
14 Seta Tamanivalu
15 Israel DaggReserves:
16 Ben Funnell
17 Tim Perry
18 Oliver Jager
19 Luke Romano
20 Jordan Taufua
21 Bryn Hall
22 Marty McKenzie
23 George BridgeLooks like several players are getting a rest by either not playing at all, or by taking place on the bench.
Taufua not injured. Bedwell-Curtis and Jager to make their SR debut; Ioane his Crusaders SR debut. -
or not. what kind of fucking side is that?
-
All Blacks tighthead prop Owen Franks, along with test loosehead Wyatt Crockett who has been ill this week, has been given an early break and they remain in Christchurch, openside flanker Matt Todd won't be risked because he strained a calf in training and No 6 Jordan Taufua has been listed in the reserves.
Not considered because of injury is last week's fullback David Havili, as is openside flanker Jed Brown who took a knock late in the match against the Highlanders. Heiden Bedwell-Curtis will debut for the Crusaders at No 7, while Pete Samu starts at blindside.
-
I'm very interested to see how Bedwell-Curtis will go at this level. Had a very good season for the Turbos in 2016.
The omission of Crockett and Todd is understandable; not playing/starting Franks and Taufua gives the impression that they don't see the Reds as a serious opponent. I hope this is not going to be this year's banana skin ...
-
Interesting choice to play Samu at 6 and Bedwell-Curtis at 7.
I wonder if they've got that right? From what I know, both are really blindsides, but Samu is a bit smaller and pretty fast - and I'm pretty sure he played openside in the first game didn't he?
Backs look good. Hopefully Razor rolling the dice with the forwards won't come back to bite us. There's a little bit o9f cavalry on the bench if we need it.
-
-
-
@Chris-B. said in Reds v Crusaders:
Interesting choice to play Samu at 6 and Bedwell-Curtis at 7.
I wonder if they've got that right? From what I know, both are really blindsides, but Samu is a bit smaller and pretty fast - and I'm pretty sure he played openside in the first game didn't he?
Backs look good. Hopefully Razor rolling the dice with the forwards won't come back to bite us. There's a little bit o9f cavalry on the bench if we need it.
Bedwell-Curtis played almost all games for the Turbos at no. 8 and at least one at 6.
Samu was a late injury replacement for Todd in round 1, hence playing openside, but like Bedwell-Curtis mostly played at no. 8 and a few times at 6 for Tasman. Maybe Robertson concluded from the first game that Samu is not the best of the two at 7; who knows ...With both opensides Todd and Brown injured, at least one of the blindsides will have to play at 7. Taufua will cover all three positions from the bench. According to their Crusaders player profiles, Samu is 1.89m and B-C 1.88m.
Edit: according to his Tasman profile, Samu is 1.85m tall; the Turbos website gives B-C a height of 1.88m as well.
