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No Sam Whitelock as Crusaders name team for Brumbies blockbuster
By Finn Morton
Super Ruby veteran Sam Whitelock will not play against the Brumbies on Friday night after being left out of the Crusaders’ team for the trans-Tasman blockbuster.
The Crusaders have made two changes to their starting XV ahead of their Round Five clash against the undefeated Brumbies at Orangetheory Stadium at 7:05pm on Friday.
Title holders the Crusaders got their Super Rugby Pacific campaign back on track on Saturday with a hard-fought win over the Blues in a rematch of last year’s final.
Playmaker Richie Mo’unga impressed in the No. 10 jersey upon his return to the side, while winger Leicester Fainga’anuku starred with a hat-trick of tries.
The All Blacks duo have been named in the starting side to face the Brumbies, with Scott Robertson only making a couple of changes to the line-up.
But one of the changes it massive – both in stature and reputation.
All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock will not play on Friday night, and has been replaced by Zach Gallagher in the No. 5 jersey.
Gallagher is set for his first start of the season, and will pack down in the second row alongside captain Scott Barrett.
The only other change is on right wing, with Pepesana Patafilo having been promoted to the starting side after making his debut off the bench against the Blues.
Flyhalf Richie Mo’unga is on the cusp of a Crusaders milestone, with Friday night's crunch clash marking his 99th appearance in the coveted red jersey.
Crusaders team to take on the Brumbies
- Joe Moody
- Codie Taylor
- Tamaiti Williams
- Scott Barrett (c)
- Zach Gallagher
- Ethan Blackadder
- Tom Christie
- Sione Havili Talitui
- Mitchell Drummond
- Richie Mo’unga
- Leicester Fainga’anuku
- Dallas McLeod
- Braydon Ennor
- Pepesana Patafilo
- Fergus Burke
Replacements:
- Brodie McAlister
- Kershawl Sykes-Martin
- George Bower
- Dominic Gardiner
- Christian Lio-Willie
- Willi Heinz
- Will Gualter
- Chay Fihaki
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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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