'He's taken the loose forwards in under his wing': Robertson blown away by Pablo Matera
Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson has been more than happy with the way Argentinian loose forward Pablo Matera has integrated into his new Crusaders environment.
The former Jaguares star has played plenty of Super Rugby against the Kiwi franchises but this year will do so from inside the defending New Zealand champions, having won the last two Super Rugby Aotearoa iterations.
Robertson says that he has been impressed with how professional Matera has been, as one of the first to arrival each day and train with a 'great mindset'. The Crusaders coach joked that sometimes Matera goes too hard when the side is working through plays.
"Pablo's English is exceptional. He still has to get the levels of intensity right at training, we might be doing clarity and he might be doing full contact", Robertson joked.
"He's got a great mindset to training, awesome pro. His English is really good so he picked up things really quickly and his comprehension's incredible.
"You know, he's played in England, he's been round in the international sport, but I'm just impressed how much of a professional he is.
"He's first in. He's taken the loose forwards in under his wing. There is learning both ways. He's a good man."
Robertson is excited about this weekend's clash against the Highlanders where he has named Matera at Number 8 in his first pre-season outing for his new club.
"It's quite exciting. The good thing about these games is there is a chance for individuals to leave their mark and put pressure on us as a coaching group because they've had so long to prepare.
"There's two clear first half and second half teams, we've also got five NDCs, National Development Contract players that have been exceptional. A lot of them are going to be good long term pros to push on to higher honours."
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I have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
Go to commentsYeah, and ours is waaay bigger than yours. Just as you's get a semi…oh hold on that never happens
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