Robertson Gracious In Defeat
Blues bounce back...
TBlues fullback Matt Duffie dives over to score a spectacular try in the Super Rugby Aotearoa clash against Chiefs at Eden Park, Auckland on July 26, 2020. Blues came from behind to win 21-17. here’s a first time for everything, even for Crusaders coach Scott Robertson.
But he took his first home Super Rugby loss in almost four seasons in charge of the 10-times champions on the chin, having acknowledged– with a chuckle– to media post match it was indeed foreign territory for him.
He knows his team had a golden chance to put one mitt on the newly minted Super Rugby Aotearoa trophy on Saturday night, only for poor discipline, some shaky midfield defence, and a worryingly sloppy lineout to doom them in a 34-32 loss to the Hurricanes in Christchurch.
‘’We’ve got to get better. Make sure we call the space and execute. It’s definitely not the standard we set ourselves,’’ Robertson said of the faltering lineout.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves not winning lineouts early, and discipline, missed touch. “I think 11 finishes of our own sets we just couldn’t execute. It mounted, and then that second half we had so much possession, looked good for so long and then again, those little things at the end,’’ Robertson bemoaned.
The lineout wobbles negated the Crusaders’ scrum dominance, and is without a doubt the number one priority to amend ahead of next weekend’s clash with the Chiefs in Hamilton.
The Crusaders could again be without centre Braydon Ennor, who is recovering from a foot injury sustained against the Blues a fortnight ago.
In his absence, the Crusaders’ midfield defence wasn’t its usual high-quality self, with Jack Goodhue and rookie Fetuli Paea both slipping off tackles.
‘’Couple of moments where they scored on the edge and put pressure on us. Yeah, we missed him,’’ Robertson said of Ennor.
‘’Fetuli was pretty good in his own right. We just need to get a little bit better on that edge, which is a real strength of ours traditionally.’’ However, the Crusaders couldn’t finish off a Will Jordan break in the waning seconds to turnaround what was an 11-point deficit with 18 minutes remaining.
“We played well enough to win. They just won those key moments...that’s footy...we can reflect
Hurricanes first five-eighth Jackson Garden-Bachop to set- up Jordie Barrett against Crusaders in Wellington on July 25, 2020.
on a lot of things in that game we could have done better. Congratulate them,’’ Robertson said.
“If you look at the table, it would have been nice to get that result. But it makes it interesting, it makes it interesting for everyone,
I think the whole of New Zealand would have been yelling for that result, weren’t they? And fair play, here we go.’’
- Rugby News
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