Crusaders down Canes for rare pre-season win
A clean bill of health was the thing which kept the Crusaders and Hurricanes coaches happy after their pre-season hitout at the Levin Domain yesterday.
For the record, the Crusaders won 34-19.
Their high-pressure game was too much for the Hurricanes as the Crusaders held the upper hand in most departments, particularly at set pieces and the breakdown.
But Hurricanes coach John Plumtree said he was mainly relieved to get through the match without any injury concerns.
‘‘It doesn’t look like we’ve got any injuries, which is really important to us, so I can have a cold beer tonight and relax around that.’’
It was a similar feeling for his Crusaders counterpart, Scott Robertson.
‘‘Clean sheet on the inventory list with injuries, so that’s great. Everyone got a good amount of gametime, at least 40 minutes,’’ he said.
Robertson will likely leave Horowhenua the happier coach given how good his side looked.
Both teams were missing a host of frontline All Blacks, but there was a swathe of talent out there with the likes of Matt Proctor, Vince Aso and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen turning out for the Hurricanes, while the Crusaders had Bryn Hall and Luke Romano in action.
When the teams were at something resembling full strength in the first half, the Crusaders had the better of the play, winning the battle up front, especially at the breakdown, where they won many turnovers.
The Hurricanes had opened the scoring inside the first five minutes when Aso crossed between the posts following a linebreak from Jackson GardenBachop, who started in place of Fletcher Smith, despite the latter initially being listed in the starting lineup.
But the Crusaders took over soon after, dominating possession and territory.
Right wing Manasa Mataele got their first try in the 10th minute when latching onto a pinpoint cross-kick from first-five Mitchell Hunt. Hooker Andrew Makalio scored their second from a rolling maul, before Mataele grabbed his second five minutes before halftime, ghosting through the Hurricanes defence from a lineout move to make it 19-7. The second half saw the teams make widespread changes, including wider squad members and club players, rendering much of what happened thereafter irrelevant.
The Crusaders bagged three more tries to the Hurricanes’ two.
Robertson said there was room for improvement, but overall was happy with the performance and rare Crusaders pre-season win.
‘‘There are a couple of key areas we need to tidy up, the defensive edge was one of them, and they went through the middle of us, but generally the big boulders were great.
‘‘It’s quite unique us getting a win in pre-season. The score is some reflection of the game, we managed to create quite a few opportunities, but, more importantly, our scramble defence was good and some individuals showed how good they are, and how hard it’s going to be to pick a team.’’
Plumtree said there was a bit to work on, but also had some positives to take away as well.
‘‘It was the perfect hitout. The Crusaders are such a tough outfit, so for us it was good. It was good to see some of our young players under that sort of pressure to see how they would react to it.
‘‘Your set piece has got to be functioning really well, otherwise you don’t get the ball you want. They put us under pressure there at times and in the breakdown. We had our moments, but I think if you look at the pressure game as a whole, they probably won that battle.’’