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Loose forward Jordan Taufua to miss final as Crusaders face injury crisis
By Online Editors
The Crusaders will be without one of their stars and will battle a hooking crisis heading into next weekend’s Super Rugby final against the Lions.
Regular back-up hooker Andrew Makalio was a late withdrawal from the bench and missed his team’s semifinal clash against the Hurricanes. Makalio suffered a calf strain at training and is unlikely to be fit for the final.
Makalio has stood in for regular reserve hooker Ben Funnell for most of the season, who managed seven appearances before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Sebastian Siataga, who replaced Makalio in the No. 16 jersey for the semi-final, is also out for the final.
After replacing starter Codie Taylor in the 71st minute, Siataga lasted just two minutes before he had to leave the field with what looked like an arm injury, and was sent to the hospital for scans. It was later confirmed that he will require surgery.
Two more key Crusaders left the semi-final early, with loose forward Jordan Taufua and centre Ryan Crotty both forced from the field through injury.
Head coach Scott Robertson confirmed Tuafua suffered a broken arm in the win and will require surgery, while Crotty left the field in the 73rd minute to undergo a head injury assessment.
“We will monitor him [Crotty] during the week, he passed the first part of it. He did get a bell ringer and we will just trust our medical staff with the process,” Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson said post-match.
Tighthead prop Michael Alaalatoa is also in doubt after tweaking his back.
The Crusaders - who have won a league-best seven titles in their history - are hoping to go back-to-back when they meet the Lions in the grand final for the second consecutive year next weekend.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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