Super Rugby - Crusaders vs Sharks, Twickenham - Sky Sports 2 (4pm) Sunday 27th March

Judgement Day

Crusaders are on fire at the moment with two massive wins in their last two games. Last weekend saw the star studded team rout Highlanders (44-13) and the previous weekend Aussie side Brumbies were the fall guys getting smashed (52-10). With Dan Carter in terrific form with the boot and a backline which includes Israel Dagg, Sean Maitland and Sonny Bill Williams it will take a miracle for the South Africans to win this one. Sadly All Black Captain and Crusaders #7, Richie McCaw, remains on the injury list so will not taking any part in this historic game – the first time a Super Rugby game has been held outside one of the host nations. Last Friday Sharks lost their first game of the season away to Chiefs (NZ) 15-9 and significantly they failed to score a try. Despite the presence of Tendai Mtawarira aka ‘The Beast’ on the bench I can't see the Sharks getting out of this without a serious beating. Talisman outhalf Patrick Lambie is also an injury worry for the Sharks and may not play. Team sheets to follow.



As an aside to this match , this interesting review of the Six Nations tournament from the New Zealand Herald illustrates the view from down under as to how the NH sides will perform in RWC.

Six abomi-nations not worthy of tying Crusaders' bootlaces By Peter Bills

Ireland had their Captain Fantastic, Wales a wily ball boy who slipped an important pass to a Welsh player for the illegal match-winning try against the Irish.

Italy had their moment in the Rome spring sunshine with victory over France; England had their day of reckoning in Dublin.

As for Scotland, they had a bulldog English coach who talked them up, while the French were a rooster with nothing much to crow about.

If ever the Six Nations was a mixed bag it was in 2011. But the overriding message to emerge from five weekends of hectic international action across the Northern Hemisphere is that the leading countries of the Southern Hemisphere have little to fear at this year's World Cup.

The rugby being played by a team like the Crusaders is in another stratosphere from this stuff. Todd Blackadder's men would beat every international team in the Northern Hemisphere at this time, given their exceptional form.

The overall standard of rugby played in this Six Nations was at best ordinary, but more often poor.


In a technical sense, it was often lamentable. Scotland v Italy in Edinburgh last Saturday looked as though it was being played at half-pace.

Much had been made of England's so-called renaissance. Alas, it lasted only until Dublin when the Irish, as delightfully perverse as ever, produced the performance of the championship to sweep away any prospect of an England Grand Slam.

Ireland were as good against their oldest foe as they had been poor in defeat to France and Wales. But then, that trend was seen again and again.

No country could sustain a level of excellence for long. Some never managed it for an entire 80 minutes all season. Inconsistency, technical errors and indiscipline abounded. England halfback Ben Youngs stupidly threw the ball into the crowd to earn a yellow card against Ireland; Wales first-five James Hook carried through with a tackle against France that was deemed dangerous. He earned a similar punishment and both acts helped put the skids under their countries' chances on the day.

Only in rare moments was any excellence to be spotted. England ground out close victories over Wales, France and Scotland while Ireland struggled even to put away the limited Scots in Edinburgh.

Indiscipline was notorious in Irish ranks, until their last game against England. Until then, they were handing out penalties to opponents like mothers offering sweets to children at a party. But the prize for the greatest moment of humour in the entire tournament goes to Wales' New Zealand coach Warren Gatland.

Before the Wales-Ireland match in Cardiff, Gatland kept a straight face and told the media he was deeply worried about Ireland's indiscipline, promising to discuss it with match referee Jonathan Kaplan. What he omitted to say was that, at that time, Wales had conceded more penalties than anyone in the championship.

Such gallows humour was to be welcomed, for it was largely a joyless tournament. With every coach wearing an expression most humans reserve for the hangman, how could it be otherwise? Scotland boss Andy Robinson prowled his coach's box like a caged lion; Martin Johnson thumped his fist on the table when plays went wrong. As for French coach Marc Lievremont, he greeted the shock single-point defeat in Italy, France's first ever to the Italians, with the words "cowardice" and "betrayal" to describe some of his own players.

That old Northern Hemisphere trait of flopping over the ball at the breakdown was still in evidence. Referees ignored the constant infringement of players encroaching beyond the rearmost feet at the breakdown, meaning any real attacking play among the backs was at a premium. Off-loading, the oxygen of continuity in the modern game, came second to the macho inclinations of Northern Hemisphere players to charge the tackler and inflict pain.

All things being equal, this all ought to come home to roost at the World Cup in September. The sides who have properly embraced the new game with its attacking possibilities ought to sweep aside these lesser opponents.

But the belief they cling to in the Northern Hemisphere is that countries such as New Zealand won't be able to play so dynamic and attack-minded a game in a World Cup. Practicalities will rule, they tell you; so much so that a country like England could yet go a long way, by focusing on defence and kicking penalties, as they did in 2007.

But what the Northern Hemisphere needs for its own long-term prosperity is to see the light at this World Cup.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=10714062

PhatPiggins

Advertised as a charity event to aid the Christchurch quake vicitms but only £5 of the ticket price going to the charity! Ticket prices start at £30 and go up to £50.

To put this into context Harlequins Vs Hull FC rugby league fixture will also donate £5 from every ticket to the Red Cross Earthquake charities but all tickets for that game cost £10


Is £5 from the Super game the normal percentage to donate or is this yet another commercial excercise masked as a charity event?

Stinks of a money making excercise off the back of a tragredy to me.

Judgement Day

I don't know the behind the scenes machinations of Super Rugby/RFU/Sky etc.etc. but according to this post http://www.crusaders.co.nz/news/crusaders-v-sharks-tickets-selling-fast/484/news.aspx from the Crusaders website, they had already sold 16,000 tickets by last Friday and by my reckoning that's 80,000 sterling so far for the earthquake appeal. Would you rather that they did nothing? Did the IRFU or any other Home Union give a percentage of last weekend's gate receipts? A minutes silence is cheap.

PS The game itself should be a cracker so what's the problem?

PhatPiggins

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Advertised as a charity event to aid the Christchurch quake vicitms but only £5 of the ticket price going to the charity! Ticket prices start at £30 and go up to £50.

To put this into context Harlequins Vs Hull FC rugby league fixture will also donate £5 from every ticket to the Red Cross Earthquake charities but all tickets for that game cost £10


Is £5 from the Super game the normal percentage to donate or is this yet another commercial excercise masked as a charity event?

Stinks of a money making excercise off the back of a tragredy to me.

Plane tickets aint cheap.

PJ Maybe

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Stinks of a money making excercise off the back of a tragredy to me.

Exactly, It is a money making exercise. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing.

I don't think it's been done or marketed as a purely charity event. AMI stadium is going to be out of use for a while so attendances will be down for Crusaders for some time. Need to pay those wage bills somehow!

PhatPiggins

Judgement Day wrote: »

I don't know the behind the scenes machinations of Super Rugby/RFU/Sky etc.etc. but according to this post http://www.crusaders.co.nz/news/crusaders-v-sharks-tickets-selling-fast/484/news.aspx from the Crusaders website, they had already sold 16,000 tickets by last Friday and by my reckoning that's 80,000 sterling so far for the earthquake appeal. Would you rather that they did nothing? Did the IRFU or any other Home Union give a percentage of last weekend's gate receipts? A minutes silence is cheap.

PS The game itself should be a cracker so what's the problem?

So you think its acceptable for the Crusaders/Sharks/RFU to make a profit from an event organised for charity?

I have no problem with the notion of the event but the break down of the money is insulting in the least

PhatPiggins

PJ Maybe wrote: »

Exactly, It is a money making exercise. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing.

I don't think it's been done or marketed as a purely charity event. AMI stadium is going to be out of use for a while so attendances will be down for Crusaders for some time. Need to pay those wage bills somehow!

It is being marketed as a Charity Match though. There are about 48 links available to support this if you do a search.

sock puppet

It's been made quite clear that the point of the game is to help the Crusaders make up the lost revenue due to moving stadium.

CatFromHue

i dont think this is a charity match per se as its a game that would have been played earthquake or no earthquake.

Judgement Day

Sorry I posted about it now. :rolleyes:

PhatPiggins

Judgement Day wrote: »

Sorry I posted about it now. :rolleyes:

I'd still love to go to it. Don't think we'll see the S15 up here again any time soon

sock puppet

Lambie confirmed out now. In trouble now as Potgeiter is hardly the same quality.

Judgement Day

Sorry can't resist a bit more hype.

PhatPiggins

sock puppet wrote: »

Lambie confirmed out now. In trouble now as Potgeiter is hardly the same quality.

Potgeiter is like a bad version of Andy Goode, surprised he keeps getting contracts in SA.

basillarkin

The player of the tournament for me so far has been Robert Fruean. Everyone has been talking about Sonny Bill but Robert seems to have the speed, skill and defensive qualities needed to succeed at the highest level. Does anybody else agree? Some good clips on rugby dump.

handsomecake

basillarkin wrote: »

The player of the tournament for me so far has been Robert Fruean. Everyone has been talking about Sonny Bill but Robert seems to have the speed, skill and defensive qualities needed to succeed at the highest level. Does anybody else agree? Some good clips on rugby dump.

100 % correct.he has been unplayable in defence and attack.the perfect mix of speed and strength.he just runs into people with superb velocity,and tackles like an animal too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-SM8w89ebU

handsomecake

Judgement Day wrote: »

Sorry can't resist a bit more hype.

sonny bill williams makes dan carter look like a j3 player standing beside him. and he is dressed like he just came from a bank job.

Judgement Day

Team sheet for tomorrow. A formidable Crusaders squad and nothing short of a total demolition of the Sharks will do - for me anyway.


Crusaders: Israel Dagg, Sean Maitland, Robert Fruean, Sonny Bill Williams, Zac Guildford, Dan Carter, Andy Ellis, Wyatt Crockett, Corey Flynn, Owen Franks, Brad Thorn, Sam Whitelock, George Whitelock, Matt Todd, Kieran Read

Replacements: Quentin Macdonald, Ben Franks, Chris Jack, Jonathan Poff, Kahn Fotuali’I, Matt Berquist, Adam Whitelock

---

Sharks: Louis Ludik, Odwa Ndungane, Stefan Terblanche, Meyer Bosman, Lwazi Mvovo, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Charl McLeod, Ryan Kankowski, Willem Alberts, Keegan Daniel, Alistair Hargreaves, Steven Sykes, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, John Smit (captain)

Replacements: Craig Burden, Tendai Mtawarira, Anton Bresler, Jacques Botes, Conrad Hoffmann, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Adrian Jacobs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdLtStBjaZA

C'MON CRUSADERS!

CouchSmart

When watching this, take just 5 minutes and track Read. His work on and off the ball is immense.

ironingbored

SBW is scarily big. Carter is by no means a small man but Williams absolutely towers over him.

I still think the jury's out on his conversion to RU. Having said that he will be hard to stop come RWC2011.

The Crusaders are on fire at the moment. I still think Ireland playing like they did against England would give them a good game.

Judgement Day

Just read this on Crusaders website and it could make an already exciting encounter absolutely epic. Now to try and persuade the Antique Tavern to switch over to the match before the end of Leinster vs Dragons.

Tui's cash for try incentive for Crusaders

Thursday, 24 March 2011
http://www.crusaders.co.nz/news/tuis-cash-for-try-incentive-for-crusaders/488/news.aspx

Tui, long term sponsor of rugby in the Canterbury region, has issued a cash-for-try incentive to the Crusaders.

Each try scored by the team in the next 11 Super Rugby fixtures will be worth $5,000 with all proceeds going to help revive Canterbury’s rugby community, grounds and facilities which have been hit hard by the recent earthquakes.

It’s no secret that the rugby loving region of Canterbury is going through a really tough time at the moment which is why Tui has decided to give back to the community and offer a try incentive to the Crusaders for their remaining Super Rugby round robin games.

Money will truly be on the line (try line) starting with this weekend’s big clash between the Crusaders and the Sharks in London. It’s the first time Super Rugby has been played in the northern hemisphere and the Crusaders players will have an extra incentive to rack up dollars by crossing the try line as many times as possible during the match.

Tui has based its $5,000 per try amount on the impressive 46 tries the Crusaders managed to score in their 2010 campaign. The figures translate to a try per game average of 3.29, which when roughly estimated, means Tui should be looking at donating $200,000 to the affected Canterbury rugby community.

Tui marketing manager Jarrod Bear says he’s hoping the challenge which Tui has given to the Crusaders will help spur them on for a worthy cause. “Tui is very aware of the pride the Crusaders feel in representing the people within the Canterbury region. We ourselves have a great relationship with the team and the region’s rugby community which is why we are pleased to able to drive this initiative. It allows both the Crusaders team and Tui to contribute directly to rebuilding community rugby facilities and helping ensure rugby remains a strong community driver within Christchurch.”

Crusaders and Canterbury rugby CEO Hamish Riach says he’s delighted with the support of Tui with this campaign. "Tui have been great supporters of the Crusaders and Canterbury rugby for many years, and this is another wonderful example of an initiative that promises to benefit community rugby in Canterbury, while creating an exciting link with the performance of the Crusaders."

Tui has been the backbone of several other community fundraisers including its 2010 Snow Shout for Southland farmers affected by heavy rain and snow which caused the loss of tens of thousands of lambs. In 2009 Tui came to the rescue by helping the flood-ravaged Kaeo Rugby Club get back on dry land after a devastating flood and back in 2008, Tui came to the aid of drought stricken farmers in the central region with a ‘drought shout’.

Tui hope to present Richie McCaw with a cheque for the total number of tries scored following the Crusaders last game against the Hurricanes on Saturday 18th June.

Judgement Day

Final contribution - I promise - turn down the sound. I haven't felt this excited since the Tri-Nations. This is no ordinary side this is the Crusaders! Jason Bourne plays rugby!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qm6F4r2gs8

JustinDee

Judgement Day wrote: »

Tui, long term sponsor of rugby in the Canterbury region, has issued a cash-for-try incentive to the Crusaders.

Each try scored by the team in the next 11 Super Rugby fixtures will be worth $5,000 with all proceeds going to help revive Canterbury’s rugby community, grounds and facilities which have been hit hard by the recent earthquakes.

I'm a little ambivolent to this. On one hand, great that they are willing to contribute. On the other, it could also be seen as being a little too much of a publicity stunt.
They could just donate the money now and get this project going right away.

handsomecake

CouchSmart wrote: »

When watching this, take just 5 minutes and track Read. His work on and off the ball is immense.

watched a documentary about him a while back.
eats ten weetabix for breakfast,12 if he is hungry.

his engine is amazing ,one of my favourite players in world rugby.he galloped in from 40 odd meters for a try last week.2 years younger then heaslip too

hopefully its a "dry track" as they say,and we can see them put a bit of width on the ball. its about time some actual rugby was played at twickenham in 2011

mrboswell

handsomecake wrote: »

100 % correct.he has been unplayable in defence and attack.the perfect mix of speed and strength.he just runs into people with superb velocity,and tackles like an animal too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-SM8w89ebU

Great tackle but was it a penalty against him though?
He never released, whereas the tackled player did release the ball straight away.

handsomecake

Judgement Day wrote: »

Final contribution - I promise - turn down the sound. I haven't felt this excited since the Tri-Nations. This is no ordinary side this is the Crusaders! Jason Bourne plays rugby!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qm6F4r2gs8

ospreys have sgined a good player in kahn fotualii

Kiwi_knock

Fantastic weather for a good game of rugby. I am hopeful that there will be plenty of tries. Predicting Crusaders by 20+.

Stev_o

SBW best 12 in the world? Think so.

sock puppet

Alberts simply has to start for the Boks year.

Kiwi_knock

Great match so far, Crusaders backs looking dangerous but the Sharks pack is dominating.

Kiwi_knock

Good try, Crusaders are lethal when they get space.

amacachi

They should get rid of the rule only allowing 10 tackles per team per match.

Kiwi_knock

SBW is a joy to watch, great scrum that led to the try.

Craig Dowling

the crusaders scrum is killing them

GO 'SADERS

Kiwi_knock

Another fantastic try, would not see many international teams beating the crusaders in this form.

Kiwi_knock

Great turn of pace by Guildford. Bonus point already secured. Good try by the Sharks as well, a miniature comeback of sorts

sock puppet

Haha. Can't believe Potgeiter just sliced through the Crusaders.

Redsock

Different game to what we get in Europe. The skill levels are unbelievable. Great game.

LuckyGent88

oh my god the off-loading is ridonk from the crusaders. They are playing rugby from a different planet all together

duckysauce

game on

Kiwi_knock

Much better by the Sharks this half, can see them grabbing at least one bonus point at this stage.

sock puppet

Smit finally off. The Crusaders need to challenge more at the breakdown.

Kiwi_knock

Game most definitely on, shocking play by Dagg.

LuckyGent88

This game is just unbelievable. Small bit of an illegal tackle there by Sonny Bill :eek:

Kiwi_knock

Another great try, that should be the game.

Kiwi_knock

This game has been a great advert for Super Rugby.

Kiwi_knock

Good result for the Crusaders, really made to work for it in the end.

Judgement Day

44-28, not a total demolition. but I'm pissed, quids ahead and happy! Yippee!! Hope Dan Carter's injury only minor but it appears so. Thanks to the Sharks for making up the numbers - we couldn't have done it without you.

Judgement Day

Never one to gloat.

Crusaders run riot at Twickenham
ESPNscrum Staff
March 26, 2011

The Crusaders moved back to the top of the New Zealand conference after beating the Sharks 44-28 in a thrilling spectacle at Twickenham on Sunday afternoon.

The Crusaders put in an epic first-half perfromance to lead 34-18 at the break having run in tries through Dan Carter, Sean Maitland, Zac Guildford and Israel Dagg with Sonny Bill Williams once again showing of his immeasurable skills in the centres.

Tries from Willem Alberts and fly-half Jacques -Louis Potgieter, who was playing in the absence of the injured Patrick Lambie, kept the Sharks in the hunt. And they came out with renewed vigour after the break and reduced the deficit thanks to tries from Odwa Ndungane and Alistair Hargreaves. But the Crusaders, who played some scintillating attacking rugby throughout, had the final word as Maitland grabbed his second try of the afternoon.

I'm still not gloating! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10715373

Roll on the World Cup and the inevitable.

handsomecake

best game of rugby ive seen this side of the equator in 2011.


the backs appreciation of space is fantastic.they are architects in their tries.
the amount of sideways back play and passing and pop passing for the sake of it we seen in this years six nations was awful.
i must start watching more rugby league to see off loading like sonny bill honed in oz. when you think of the try paddy wallace butchered in cardiff and then see the intelligence that was used by the backs today,the difference is huge.

hope read isnt out for too long.

dagg was disappointing in his brain freeze for that quick lineout.

handsomecake

http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-Sonny-Bill-Williams-Cam-Crusaders-V-Sharks-Twickenham/tabid/317/articleID/204336/Default.aspx
sonny bill cam



http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-all-tries-Crusaders-V-Sharks-Super-15-Twickenham-London/tabid/317/articleID/204325/Default.aspx

all the tries