Former Crusader crowns Blues star the best performance of round 10

Justin Marshall's Crusaders may have secured a critical win in dominant fashion against the Rebels in Christchurch over the weekend, but when picking his most impressive performer of round 10 in Super Rugby Pacific, the Canterbury great bypassed his cherished club's personnel in favour of another Kiwi star.

There were plenty of standout performances in round 10, including no shortage of standout players for the Crusaders as the defending champions clawed themselves off the bottom of the table thanks to the return of captain Scott Barrett among a host of other changes in the team's lineup.

Elsewhere in Super Rugby Pacific, Quinn Tupaea was trying to run a marathon with the ball in hand for the Chiefs, Taniela Rakuro was scoring left and right for the Drua, and Reds young gun Tim Ryan shocked the Blues with a hat-trick within the space of 14 minutes.

Marshall however opted to select an All Black who made a game-changing impact off the bench for the Blues that helped finish off a comeback that overcame Ryan's exploits.

"This is going to seem a little bizarre and I'm happy for challenges, we hopefully won't have time for me to take those challenges on," Marshall laughed when speaking to SENZ. "Because people will go what the hell? How have you chosen this guy?

"Caleb Clarke; I challenge anybody to challenge me because if you watch his introduction to that game last night, for the 25 or so minutes that he was in that game, the differences that he made, including the break that set up Sam Nock for the try that won the game, he was simply outstanding.

"When you are fighting to win a game, you need a game changer, that game changer can come off the bench and I thought the work Caleb Clarke did, not only defensively but on attack, the linebreak, setting up the last try, the pick and go's, the energy that he showed, that's what you want when you go to your bench for a player that's capable of opening the game up, to change the game, and he did that.

"So, he's my Player of the Round."

Clarke's form has certainly improved in 2024, having famously decided to drop eight kilograms for the campaign in search of a new edge.

Despite only appearing off the bench in the 50th minute, Clarke led his team in linebreaks and defenders beaten in addition to delivering the game-winning try assist.

The winger was involved in the All Blacks' 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign, operating as Blues teammate Mark Tele'a's understudy on the left wing throughout the tournament.

Also nominated for the honour of Player of the Round was Crusaders No. 8 Christian Lio-Willie, who re-entered the starting XV in a reshuffled loose forward trio that saw Cullen Grace move to blindside flanker and Ethan Blackadder slot into the No. 7 jersey.

Lio-Willie was a leading figure in the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season in terms of carries, despite being utilised off the bench and only starting during the injury absence of Grace.

Returning from an injury himself in round nine's loss to the Western Force, the 25-year-old impressed off the bench and was subsequently promoted. Lio-Willie led the game in line breaks (three), turnovers won (two), and tries (two) while appearing in the top five in numerous other statistical categories.