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All Blacks galore as Crusaders gear up for another finals run
By Online Editors
The Crusaders have secured a home quarter-final, and will host the Sharks at AMI Stadium on Saturday night. It is the first time the two sides have met since round five of the 2016 season, and the first time since 2014 that the Sharks have played in Christchurch.
Head Coach Scott Robertson has named his team for the knock-out fixture, and it includes three changes in the forwards and two in the backs from the side that defeated the Blues last week.
All Blacks front-rowers Codie Taylor and Owen Franks return to the starting line-up at hooker and tighthead respectively, meaning Andrew Makalio and Michael Alaalatoa move to the reserves bench.
Scott Barrett also returns from a rest week to resume his role at lock, and Luke Romano will once again provide cover on the bench. The loose forward trio of Jordan Taufua, Matt Todd and Kieran Read remains unchanged this week, with Read having recovered from the wrist/thumb injury he sustained against the Blues.
Bryn Hall and Mitchell Drummond will again switch for this game, so that Hall takes the starting spot at halfback and Drummond moves to the bench. The only other change sees David Havili rejoin the squad at fullback in place of Israel Dagg.
CRUSADERS
15. David Havili, 14. Seta Tamanivalu, 13. Jack Goodhue, 12. Ryan Crotty (VC), 11. George Bridge, 10. Richie Mo'unga, 9. Bryn Hall, 8. Kieran Read, 7. Matt Todd (VC), 6. Jordan Tafua, 5. Sam Whitelock (C), 4. Scott Barrett, 3. Owen Franks, 2. Codie Taylor, 1. Tim Perry.
Reserves: 16. Andrew Makalio, 17. Wyatt Crockett, 18. Michael Alaalatoa, 19. Luke Romano, 20. Pete Samu, 21. Mitchell Drummond, 22. Mitchell Hunt, 23. Manasa Mataele.
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Latest Comments
Look there are a few unarguable facts here that are very clear. SARU was close to bankruptcy with SR, bailed out by the Lions and they need the URC and EPCR. Inclusion of SA teams in URC has been a great for for ALL concerned, from a rugby perspective and financially, moreover there is massive growth yet to come. The GP is in financial trouble and this will be the catalyst for EPCR change to further cement the Boks.
If this all plays out with even greater rewards for the urc AND the Top14 & GP via EPCR, the 6N will become 7N. Nz and Aus NEED to get their version firing with Japan & the PI’s, otherwise they will find themselves increasingly regressing…
Go to commentsPerofeta came back and was available for the eoyt right? Or was that why Love was in the squad (but got injured in the last week)?
It was such a frustrating year. Perofeta looked a service stop gap until Jordan was fit, but then got injured. Plummer was selected because of Pero's injury and dmac shat the bed in the second half in Australia but Clarke (?) got himself binned at the 65 min mark so Plummer couldn't come on (at least with the risk adverse Razors thinking) when he was planned to.
So many other exciting opportunities that could have happened without injuries, but then theyre probably balanced by knowing Sititi probably wouldn't have been given a chance without multiple injuries happened.
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