Roar Guru
The Crusaders have won their ninth Super Rugby title in dominant fashion, defeating the Lions 37-18 at home in Christchurch.
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Final score
Crusaders 37
Lions 18
The Crusaders host the Lions Saturday night at AMI Park, Christchurch. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEST.
The Lions beat the Crusaders by almost 30 points, two years ago. But that was at home in South Africa. Both teams were coached by different people who have since moved to the UK. That was the only win by the Lions in their past eight games.
This season, Scott Robinson’s Crusaders have looked as invulnerable as his team last year, losing only twice. Their last loss was five months ago. This year, the Lions lost seven.
The Crusaders is the second highest point scorer, 15 points behind the Waratahs 557. They are the dominating defending team of the competition – the only team conceding less than 300 points.
Swys de Bruin’s Lions are third best in defence conceding 345 points. They are also third best in attack, scoring 23 points less than the Crusaders.
Their last encounter was a close affair, with Crusaders winning by only six points. Their previous game was also in “Jozi” resulting in any another close antipodean win, by eight points.
Their only match played in Chirstchurch was 2015, where Johan Ackermann’s Lions were smashed by 28 points though a comprehensive display of power, speed and smart.
The Lions have improved since then. Therefore, the three things I look forward to in this match are:
1. Set piece. Both teams are excellent extremely good scrummagers and line-out pilferers
2. Lions defence around the edge of the field
3. The speed of the Lion’s backrow versus the speed and power of the Crusaders backrow
Prediction
Both Crusaders and Lions are ensemble teams. Harry Jones predicted that the Lions have an excellent chance to raise the silver Octopus the if they win the LOTTO, which is Line-Out and Turn-Over. I tend to agree. However, I believe they have the same chance of doing that as winning the real LOTTO itself.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEST.