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‘Not looking too good’: Crusaders assistant provides update on injured star
By Finn Morton
Crusaders assistant coach James Marshall has revealed that injured lock Sam Whitelock isn’t “looking too good” after aggravating an Achilles injury against the Hurricanes.
Whitelock missed a number of matches earlier this season with an injury, before returning in round nine to face the Melbourne Rebels.
For a bit, New Zealanders could breathe a collective sigh of relief ahead of this year’s Rugby World Cup in France.
But then, in the Crusaders' final regular season fixture of the campaign, the lock was replaced at half-time during the tough loss to the Hurricanes at Sky Stadium.
It was later revealed that the two-time Rugby World Cup winner had aggravated an Achilles injury, with coach Scott Robertson updating reporters earlier this week.
But Robertson was hopeful that Whitelock may have “another game or two left in him” – but assistant coach James Marshall wasn’t as optimistic.
“He’s obviously out this week (and) not looking too good for next week either,” Marshall told SENZ The Run Home.
“We’re just sort of waiting for the full scan results and fingers crossed it’s nothing major.
“He’s the last guy we want going down at this time of the year.”
The Crusaders confirmed earlier this month that Whitelock had signed a contract with French club Pau for after this year’s World Cup.
Whitelock will go down in history as an all-time great, and it’s fair to say that a stint on the sidelines would be an unjust end to his “last crusade.”
“He felt a little bit in the first half and then came off, which we thought was pretty precautionary but (it) turns out it might be a little bit more than that,” Marshall added.
“Like I said, fingers crossed it’s nothing major and we’ll see him at some point before the season ends.
“Obviously it’s his last crusade this year so it would be a terrible way to go out like that.”
The Crusaders were beaten by the Fijian Drua earlier this season – a defeat which will echo throughout history as simply one of the greatest upsets ever in the competition.
But the Drua will need to repeat history, and do it away from home this time, if they are to progress to the final four.
The Crusaders host the Drua at Christchurch’s Orangetheory Stadium at 7.05pm NZST on Saturday.
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I’ve seen an improvement in both.
Go to commentsFrance using the 7-1, England using the 6-2, Ireland and Scotland have used it a few times as well and many nations are starting to adopt it. The reality is the game is changing. Administrators have made it faster and that is leading to more significant drop offs in the forwards. You have 2 options. Load your bench with forwards or alter your player conditioning which might mean more intense conditioning for forwards and a drop off in bulk. The game can still be played many ways. Every nation needs to adapt in their own way to suit their strengths. France have followed the Springbok model of tight forwards being preferred because it suits them. They have huge hunks of meat and the bench is as good as the starters so why not go for it? The Springboks have also used hybrids like Kwagga Smith, Schalk Britz, Deon Fourie, Franco Mostert and others. England are following that model instead and by putting 3 loosies there who can do damage in defence and make the breakdown a mess in the final quarter. It worked well against Wales but will be interested to see how it goes going forward against better opposition who can threaten their lineout and scrum. All the talk around bench limitations to stop the 7-1 and 6-2 for me is nonsense. Coaches who refuse to innovate want to keep the game the same and make it uniform and sameness is bad for fans. The bench composition adds jeopardy and is a huge debate point for fans who love it. Bench innovations have not made the game worse, they have made it better and more watchable. They challenge coaches and teams and that’s what fans want. What we need now is more coaches to innovate. There is still space for the 5-3 or even a 4-4 if a coach is willing to take it on and play expansive high tempo possession-based rugby with forwards who are lean and mean and backs who are good over the ball. The laws favour that style more than ever before. Ireland are too old to do it now. Every team needs to innovate to best suit their style and players so I hope coaches and pundits stop moaning about forwards and benches and start to find different ways to win.
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