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It appears like Mission Impossible but Queensland’s young pack believe they can avoid becoming the Crusaders’ final demolition job in a season of scrummaging supremacy.
The weary Crusaders arrived in Brisbane on Monday night, jet-lagged after a delayed flight out of South Africa, but their massive journey hasn’t faded the concern the Reds have about Saturday night’s scrum battle.
The Cantabrians have destroyed, or at least overpowered, every Super Rugby scrum in their path this season and their semi-final efforts against the Stormers in Cape Town have Queensland on edge.
Reds’ prop Greg Holmes on Monday rated the Crusaders’ scrum the biggest threat in the Suncorp Stadium decider.
Holmes, who has replaced injured Test tighthead James Slipper in the Queensland front-row, was thoroughly impressed by his rivals’ Cape Town carnage.
“I thought it would be a very tough and tight game over there but the Crusaders did it in a canter really,” he said.
“I thought their scrum was massive so that’s our biggest job this weekend.”
But giving the Reds’ pack confidence was their much improved set-piece effort in their 30-13 semi-final win over the Blues, who dominated them six weeks earlier.
Although the Crusaders aren’t the biggest pack in the competition, Holmes and Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie said they’re definitely the best scrummagers technically.
They have rotated Owen and Ben Franks and Wyatt Crockett through their front-row all season, with Corey Flynn at hooker, but also get plenty of power from their back five.
“They’re a good combination and great technique and they all seem to work well together,” Holmes said.
“They’ve disrupted a lot of scrums all year and that’s our No.1 goal as front-rowers to stop that this weekend and give our guys the best chance for attacking.
“It will be a massive task for us.”
Holmes, 28, has played 13 Tests for the Wallabies but rates Saturday’s decider as the biggest match of his career, and stresses the rising side isn’t just happy to be sharing the final stage with the competition favourites.
“We’re up to this in our eyeballs now and we’re going to come out firing and throw everything we’ve got at this game,” he said. “We’re going to hit them with everything we’ve got.”
Blues’ coach Pat Lam believes the Crusaders can use their scrum advantage to overcome the massive disadvantage of flying over the Indian Ocean and back again in the past week.
“It’s really hard. I just think it’s going to be a close game,” he said.
“Everything is geared towards the Reds, with no travel and so forth, but the Crusaders are overcoming all the challenges.
“If the Crusaders came back and won it, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.