Rob Penney: 'It’s been a long time since the Crusaders have been in this sort of place'
The stat sheet isn't looking kindly on the Crusaders' opening two performances of the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season as questions swirl over the team's direction.
There's no hiding from those stats either, with turnovers dominating the run of play and often disrupting any chance at positive momentum for the reigning champions.
The changes within the team's environment have been well documented, but the club have remained resolute in their confidence the departures haven't dented their title aspirations or chances.
While it wasn't a smooth sailing start to the campaign in 2023 either, a losing excursion to Fiji to face the Drua this week could see the team subjected to their worst start to a season since 1996. It's a fixture they were famously beaten in last year.
New coach Rob Penney acknowledges the team is underperforming, which is an unfamiliar feeling for a club with seven titles in as many years.
“I think we had 36 opportunities with the ball and 18 of them turned into errors and turnovers…we’re better than that,” Penney told 1News, reflecting on his side's 24-37 loss to the Waratahs in Super Round.
“It’s never easy in an organisation that prides itself on being able to get across the line when challenging times occur.
“I’m not questioning the players' resolve, it’s been a long time since the Crusaders have been in this sort of place."
In addition to losing names like Richie Mo'unga, Sam Whitelock and Leicester Fainga’anuku, the Crusaders have been dealt injury blows in the form of Tamaiti Williams, Fergus Burke, Brayden Ennor, Ethan Blackadder, Leigh Halfpenny and Will Jordan.
The latter of which will miss the entire season with a shoulder injury, a "colossal loss" for the team.
"He's massive, for a number of reasons," Penney told media following Jordan's injury news. "A world-class player, massive influence on the group.
"The injury's been managed for a year or two, my understanding is it's just got progressively worse. There may have been a little issue during the World Cup where it got aggravated once again.
"The conservative management component wasn't as effective as we would have hoped, so he's had the repair done."
To help cover the loss of two world-class fullbacks, the team have drafted in a familiar face in Johnny McNicholl. Since leaving the club in 2016, McNicholl has earned over 120 caps for Scarlets and has 10 international caps to his name.
Penney said the 33-year-old may have been away for some time, but he knows what the club is about.
“He has a massive history here… he’s a Crusader, he gets it.”
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Some interesting stats that just proved what my first impression of NZ’s drive to speed up Rugby Union would amount to - fine margins here and there to cut a few seconds off the game and nothing else. To do more there would have to be wholesale changes to the game like doing away with scrums, lineouts and bringing back the ELV’s to have free kicks instead of penalties. Very little chance of it happening but, in the end, Ruby Union would be a 15-man version of Rugby League. There are reasons why Rugby Union is globally more popular that Rugby League and what NZ are also not considering is the unintended consequences of what they want to achieve. This will end up turning Rugby Union into a low value product that will not be acceptable to the paying public. If people really wanted a sped-up version of rugby, then why is Rugby Union globally way more popular than Rugby League? Rugby lovers all over the world are also not stupid and have seen through what NZ are trying to achieve here, selfishly to bring back their glory days of dominance over every other nation and compete with Rugby League that is dominant in Australasia. NH countries just don’t have the cattle, or the fantastic weather needed to play like NZ SR franchises do so good luck to whoever has to try and convince the NH to accept going back to the days of NZ dominance and agreeing to wreck the game in the process. I have serious doubts on the validity of the TV stats presented by GP. All they did was expand the broadcasting base by putting it on free to air, not even any indication of arresting the continued drop in viewership. Match day attendance goes hand in hand with broadcast ratings so if there was an increase in the one you should expect to see it with the other. However, the drop in match day attendance is very evident to the casual highlights package viewer. The only club who looks to be getting solid attendance is the Drua. I am calling it now that NZ’s quest to speed up the game will fail and so will the vote on the 20-minute red card.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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