Canterbury Crusaders

In the final moments of the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, the match, which had see-sawed for almost 100 minutes, was finally decided by an ice-cold Jonny Wilkinson field goal.
In that moment, Wilkinson entered rugby mythology as the architect of an England triumph.
In 1991, David Campese sliced across field and darted inside John Kirwan [...]

Reds coach Ewen McKenzie has insisted Queensland’s future remains in safe hands despite being angered by the defection of rising prop Laurie Weeks to the Melbourne Rebels.
On a dramatic day, starting with the surprise exclusion of veteran centre Morgan Turinui from the 26-man tour squad to South Africa, Weeks was announced as the Rebels’ first [...]

NSW coach Chris Hickey may be forced to accelerate plans to rotate his squad, with injury doubts over two members of his pack for Saturday’s Super 14 clash with Western Force in Perth.
Neither No.8 Wycliff Palu (hamstring) or prop Al Baxter (calf) ran at training on Thursday and were struggling to be fit enough in [...]

Western Force coach John Mitchell has named an unchanged starting line-up for Saturday’s Super 14 clash with NSW in Perth, believing his players deserve the chance to atone for last week’s 50-10 pummelling at the hands of Queensland.
The Force sit last on the table with no points from their four games.
And despite the Force’s horror [...]

Super 14 preview panel for this weekend’s round six match (all times AEDT).
FRIDAY
BLUES v BRUMBIES at Eden Park, Auckland at 5.35pm
Last meeting: Brumbies 37 bt Blues 15 at Canberra
The Brumbies have slowly risen to equal fourth by grinding out four tight wins. They face a massive test here to continue their streak with the Blues [...]

And yes, semi is intended both ways. While most will agree the Sharks season is a bust, there is no reason to write them off just yet.
41 points was all that the Crusaders required for a 4th place finish in last year’s edition of the competition.
41 points also saw the Hurricanes through in [...]

Skipper Keven Mealamu wants to see the Blues do the business first before he celebrates a personal Super 14 rugby milestone on Friday night.
The match against the Brumbies will be the All Black hooker’s 100th for the Blues, extending the franchise record he broke when he got to 98 in the win over the Reds [...]

The Waratahs have unsurprisingly stuck with the combination that thrashed the Lions in their last Super 14 start for Saturday’s clash with the Western Force in Perth.
Despite some injury concerns it is the third week in a row that coach Chris Hickey has retained the same 22-man squad.
Hickey said that he was monitoring the work [...]

Record-breaking Reds hooker Sean Hardman is battling for minutes on the paddock and he couldn’t be happier.
Hardman still has the desire and drive to see out his 12-season Super rugby career as a starting player but the 141-cap Queensland stalwart is pleased young rake Saia Faingaa has epitomised the born-again Reds.
Faingaa and his twin Anthony [...]

Headlines have read that Waratahs prop Dan Palmer is heading to the Brumbies next season due to “the teams’ direction” and “regular game time” as he sits behind Baxter, Robinson and Kepu.
I might be over-simplifying this, but looking at the Brumbies, they have Alexander (who, if fit, will always start), Ma’afu and Sheperdson on the [...]