Crusaders
33
Match Complete
Hurricanes
16
| 77 |  | P. Umaga-Jensen | ||
| 55 | | R. Riccitelli | ||
| R. Mo'unga |  | 46 | ||
| C. Taylor | | 46 | ||
| S. Barrett | | 38 | ||
| R. Mo'unga | | 30 | ||
| E. Blackadder | | 29 | ||
| R. Mo'unga | | 25 | ||
| R. Mo'unga | | 24 | ||
| R. Mo'unga | | 22 | ||
| C. Taylor | | 21 | ||
| 13 |  | J. Barrett | ||
| 4 | | J. Barrett |
| 5 | Tries | 2 | ||
| 4 | Conversions | 0 | ||
| 0 | Penalty Goals | 2 | ||
| 0 | Field Goals | 0 |
The Crusaders welcome the Hurricanes to Christchurch for what promises to be a thrilling match. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog starting from 2:35pm (AEDT) on Sunday.
The Crusaders will look to continue their winning start to the season against a Wellington side well aware that another loss would make things almost impossible if they want to win the competition.
The visitors are coming in to this match with a handful of changes to the team that lost to the Blues in Round 1. Most of these changes are in the forwards where there’s some shuffling in the second and back rows.
Isaia Walker-Leawere will get his first start of the season and the back row will be made up of Reed Prinsep, Ardie Savea and Du’Plessis Kirifi. With Savea at number eight, fans should get to see the club hero with the ball in his hands more often than when he plays flanker and that can only be a good thing for the Canes.
In the backs the only change is Peter Umaga-Jensen, who will line up alongside Ngani Laumape. Both will be wanting to impress the All Blacks selectors and get back into the black jersey.
Meanwhile, for the Crusaders there are fewer changes from their winning Round 1 side. Vice-captain David Havili is back in the starting line-up and Mitchell Drummond will get his 95th club cap when he runs out.
There was debate following the past couple of games about whether the Crusaders had a discipline problem and the coaches have said that they’ve been working harder in training to make sure that the team is playing within the laws.
With the range of Jordie Barrett’s boot, they will need to make sure they aren’t giving away penalties anywhere within 40 metres of their posts.
There are plenty of thrilling players on display in this match but one of the most exciting match-ups will see two of the best wingers in world rugby go head to head.
Sevu Reece has lit up Super Rugby but has not yet been able to lock down a consistent starting jersey for the All Blacks. Julian Savea meanwhile has been there, done that and scored the try – 46 of them, in fact, in 54 Test appearances.
Prediction
Clashes between these two are usually pretty exciting and hopefully we get to see plenty of free-flowing rugby and not have both sides cancel each other out.
When it comes down to it, the Crusaders’ pack will get on top of the Canes and that dominance up front will be used well by Richie Mo’unga to see his team home.
Crusaders by seven.
Game information
Kick-off: 2:35pm (AEDT)
Venue: Orangetheory Stadium
Live stream: Stan Sport
Betting: Crusaders $1.16, Hurricanes $5.20 (odds via PlayUp)
Teams
Crusaders
15. David Havili, 14. Sevu Reece, 13. Jack Goodhue, 12. Dallas McLeod, 11. Leicester Fainga’anuku, 10. Richie Mo’unga, 9. Mitchell Drummond, 8. Cullen Grace, 7. Tom Christie, 6. Ethan Blackadder, 5. Sam Whitelock, 4. Scott Barrett (c), 3. Michael Alaalatoa, 2. Codie Taylor, 1. Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16. Brodie McAlister, 17. George Bower, 18. Fletcher Newell, 19. Quinten Strange, 20. Sione Havili Talitui, 21. Bryn Hall, 22. Fergus Burke, 23. Will Jordan.
Hurricanes
15. Jordie Barrett, 14. Wes Goosen, 13. Peter Umaga-Jensen, 12. Ngani Laumape, 11. Julian Savea, 10. Jackson Garden-Bachop, 9. Jonathan Taumateine, 8. Ardie Savea (c), 7. Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6. Reed Prinsep, 5. Isaia Walker-Leawere, 4. James Blackwell, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 2. Asafo Aumua, 1. Fraser Armstrong.
Replacements: 16. Ricky Riccitelli, 17. Xavier Numia, 18. Tevita Mafileo, 19. Liam Mitchell, 20. Devan Flanders, 21. Luke Campbell, 22. Billy Proctor, 23. Salesi Rayasi.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Yeah agree - Danny Cipriani was sent off a while back where he was actually backing away from the ball runner but because it was head high contact then he was shown the red. I was surprised by the decision as thought he would get a yellow
Paulo
Roar Rookie
“ the Crusaders 2nd try is clearly a forward pass – how the TMO can rule he passed backwards is beyond me – that TMO is blind” On field decision was a try, had to be clear and obvious that it was forward out of the hands, which on the angles it wasn’t ‘clear and obvious’, especially as the ball was caught basically even with the player who through it even after he had been tackled - pretty much on the 22line if I remember. It’s probably one of those where if the on field decision had been no-try it would have been upheld too, as it wasn’t clear and obvious either way.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
I didn’t think ‘bracing for contact’ was a mitigation. And a player had to drop considerable height right before contact to use that mitigation. Agree it was on the light side of the spectrum, but if there’s head contact, there is a process in place that needs to be followed. If we want to say there was no head contact, then fine, but I haven’t seen any suggestion, even from the refs at the time, that there was none.
Faith
Roar Rookie
Canes are lacking TJ leadership
SuisseRugbyFan
Guest
Hoped for a real contest. But Hurricanes got slaughter. I'm dissapointed in the competitions so far. Teams seems to be divided in 3 classes.
Mark
Guest
Crikey Just how dumb are the Hurricanes Stupid attempted miracle passes when holding on is smarter Constant kicking possession away One of the worst lineouts of all time And Garden-Bachop - instead of just running straight and diving he runs at an angle (thereby giving his pursuers more time and space to catch him) - and not only that - he runs towards the sideline...dumb dumb dumb The look exactly like the Blues under Lam/Kirwan/Umaga - zero brains - all razzle dazzle and no result Sure - the Crusaders 2nd try is clearly a forward pass - how the TMO can rule he passed backwards is beyond me - that TMO is blind - but the Hurricanes were abysmally stupid in this game
Diesel 2.0
Roar Rookie
Cheers Oliver for the call. If anything positive has come out of the canes loss its that they finished the game with a back line they should've started with. Here's hoping they start the next game with: 9. Taumateine 10. Barrett 11. Savea 12. Laumape, 13. Umaga Jensen 14. Goosen 15. Raiasi
Phantom
Roar Rookie
Tough call. As usual favouring the poachers.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
It is simply the Caleb Ralph principle in action.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
FINAL SCORE Crusaders: 33 Hurricanes: 16 The Crusaders have comfortably beaten the Hurricanes in Christchurch with a brutal first half that left the Canes with far too much to do in the second half. The home side were behind early after a couple of Canes' penalty goals but soon the Crusaders set piece got working and the tries started to flow for them. In 17 minutes they put on four tries whilst the Canes didn't trouble the scoreboard again in the second half. The Crusaders were good for sure but the Canes made things difficult for themselves with too many errors and too many penalties. Losing their talisman Aardie Savea for 10 minutes to the sin bin was a real killer and they never recovered. The second half was a bit more stop start as the weather and plenty of subs from both sides broke up the flow of the game. The Crusaders got the crucial first score after half time to kill off the game but the Canes then fought hard for the next 30 minutes. They had a lot of possession but couldn't make it count until late in the game when Umaga-Jensen went over to finish a good passage of play. With that try the Canes won the second half but were still a long way back on the scoreboard and will be disappointed about how they let the Crusaders dominate in that first half. The Crusaders won't be happy with that second half but will move into Round Three unbeaten and looking like another title is theirs for the losing. Thanks for all the comments and banter! Have a good one and see you in the next Super Rugby round!
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Final minute of the game and the home side have a scrum just on the 22 of the Canes - chance for one more score? Nope! Nothing opening up so Reece kicks it out and the Crusaders have a good win. Crusaders: 33 Hurricanes: 16 Time: 80:00
Oliver Matthews
Expert
CONVERSION MISSED!!! Another miss from Jordie B but a good try from the Canes. Crusaders: 33 Hurricanes: 16 Time: 78:30
Oliver Matthews
Expert
TRY!!! Peter Umaga-Jensen has got the try but that was great work by a number of players to get there. A nice cross field kick from Barrett and then good work by Savea in the jump for the kick and the centre is there to clean up the bouncing ball and sprint in from a couple of metres out to score. Crusaders: 33 Hurricanes: 16 Time: 78:00
Oliver Matthews
Expert
NO TRY!!! Will Jordan knocked on as he dived on the ball and so it's a goal line drop out for the Canes. Jordie B takes a short one and the Salesi Rayasi catches it cleanly and makes some ground. Laumape now has it and he's free and in space!! The centre flies away - can he go all the way? There's cover there for the Crusaders so Laumape cuts back inside and the Canes still have it inside the Crusaders 22. Crusaders: 38 Hurricanes: 11 Time: 77:00
76
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
I'm sorry. Did the on-field ref just ask the TMO what the laws were in regards to an in-goal knock on?
Oliver Matthews
Expert
OH HANG ON! TMO has asked to check the grounding and this looks like it might not be a try!! Crusaders: 38 Hurricanes: 11 Time: 76:00
Oliver Matthews
Expert
TRY!!!! Will Jordan has one!!! That's totally against the run of play but that's what the Crusaders can do I guess. Canes had the ball but Goodhue put in a good hit and the Crusaders stole the ball - Reece put in a good kick ahead and Jordan chased it down to score! Crusaders: 38 Hurricanes: 11 Time: 76:00
76
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Canes have the ball just inside the Crusaders half - a nice break and they are deep inside the Crusaders 22 after good work from Flanders and Blackwell. They get the ball out wide looking for some space on the outside but they lose the ball and the Crusaders will have a scrum about 10m from their own line. Crusaders: 33 Hurricanes: 11 Time: 75:00