‘Chicken soup’ fires up Tahs for Crusaders

THEY are undefeated, top of the Super Rugby table and have staged three incredible comeback wins, but the Crusaders are far from indestructible, Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson says.

Gibson, a Crusaders legend who won four titles with the club, will this week devise a plan to inflict the first loss of the year upon the Kiwi leaders at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.

Fresh from NSW’s own astonishing comeback against

The lack of precision from the Reds was diabolical in the closing 25 minutes considering they commanded more than 70 per cent of the ball for the second half and 64 per cent for the match.

Two excellent 5m lineout opportunities were ruined by a Duncan Paia’aua knock-on and the worst pass of George Smith’s career when he landed the ball at a charging Samu Kerevi’s bootlaces. Melbourne Rebels last Friday, Gibson has taken heart from the displays of the Crusaders’ opponents.

While Canterbury are 5-0 and have pulled off last-gasp wins against the Highlanders, Blues and Queensland, every side the Crusaders have played against had been on top at various stages.

“In all those games they’ve played, every team has been very competitive,” Gibson said.

“We are playing the form team this weekend. That’s the way we’ve got to treat that.

With the result still there for the taking at the 71-minute mark, Kerevi burst into the clear and hooked up with Paia’aua but Hunt seemed just to overrun his support line and he knocked on.

Hunt played strongly from fullback as the Reds’ best, young prop Markus Vanzati held up the scrum well for 64 minutes, winger Izaia Perese did some neat things, Higginbotham’s good moments were

“But we do know that each team they’ve played has been very competitive. We’re going to have to be at our best, we know that. But we love those challenges.”

“We enjoy playing New Zealand teams and we’re at home. I think the confidence from the game on Friday night and playing more towards a style we’ve set for ourselves will give us a great deal of confidence.”

Even in their comfortable 45-17 victory over the Force, the Crusaders’ scrum was put under enormous pressure by valuable and fellow backrower Hendrick Tui made one bumping linebreak.

The arm-wrestle was 0-0 when the Reds were whacked by back-to-back yellow cards inside 90 seconds midway through the first half.

Nabuli went in for a tackle and knocked down the ball as it was being passed. At full speed, you would call it an excellent smothering tackle.

When Fraser slowed it the Perth men, which will hearten the Wallaby-laden NSW forward pack.

“The most impressive thing about the Crusaders has been their forwards,” Gibson said.

“They have been able to roll over the top of teams through their forward strength late in games. So we know the battle there.”

As for NSW’s stunning 32-25 win in Melbourne, having trailed 25-6 with little more than 30 minutes to play, Gibson described the result as “chicken soup”. down frame-by-frame, he found a deliberate knockdown and whistled Nabuli to the bin. It was a rubbish call.

Inside two minutes, lock Kane Douglas was on the sidelines too for a yellow card for a maul offence.

Against 13 men, the Jaguares racked up a decisive 12-0 run, including a brilliant 55m try by winger Ramiro Moyano, who sidestepped three times to beat Reds tacklers.

“It’s an excellent shot in the arm for us,” he said.

A win is chicken soup for the soul.

“That can be an excellent turning point for us.”

NSW faced losing four games in succession but after the famous victory over the Rebels they will be buoyed to take on their great rivals at home.

NSW and the Crusaders have played against each other in three Super Rugby finals, the New Zealanders winning twice and the Tahs once.