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Crusaders rest All Blacks, replace them with more All Blacks
By Jamie Wall
The demands of the recent Lions tour have forced the hand of the Crusaders coaching staff, who have rested a number of key players for their match tomorrow night against the Hurricanes in Wellington. This is despite the fact that a win will guarantee them top spot on the table going into the Super Rugby playoffs.
The All Black front row of Joe Moody, Codie Taylor and Owen Franks have been given the weekend off, and Sam Whitelock has been moved to the reserves bench.
However, that doesn't mean that you can lock in a night of set piece dominance by the home side. Fellow All Black Wyatt Crockett comes into the new front row alongside the highly rated Michael Alaalatoa and Ben Funnell. Behind them All Blacks Scott Barrett and Luke Romano are the starting locks.
Then there's the existing All Black contingent of Kieran Read and Matt Todd to add to the pack, plus Israel Dagg and Seta Tamanivalu out in the backs.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have named a full strength line up, including 10 All Blacks of their own.
The last time these two teams played was a grinding, 20-12 victory to the Crusaders back in May:
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Latest Comments
The New Zealand performance in the return fixture in 2016 was filthy. A lot of Irish supporters were pretty shocked by it, viewed it as de facto cheating just to avoid another defeat.
Also shocked by the abuse to Ireland, captain, vice-captain and spectators after the full time whistle in Paris defeat, last match.
Sledging is sledging, but that happens during the game and targetting spectators should be completely out of bounds.
The Irish public used to enjoy these matches, even in defeat. Now they are necessary but unpleasant, because NZ apparently cannot accept or respect successful challengers.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
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