Champs’ new crusade after changing of the guard
The Herald is assessing the prospects of the NZ Super sides ahead of Friday’s kickoff. Today: The Crusaders
Causes for optimism
They know their way to the finish line in Super Rugby better than any other side, and despite some departures, still field a squad with depth that many other teams would kill for in Super Rugby.
Their Canterbury and Tasmanbased academies have ensured the stocks are refilled despite big losses, and with the handy signing of Levi Aumua and some older heads returning, the Crusaders will be hard work to get past again.
Causes for concern
The ‘some departures’ mentioned above are rather significant and it shapes as a year for the Crusaders to bed in some younger talent to set them up for future success rather than a continuation of the dynasty developed over the past seven years. Usually these sort of season previews add the caveat that if a team can remain injury-free, they’ll be up there; unfortunately for the Crusaders, they’ve already had several of those, too.
Three Wise Men
Whitelock, Mo’unga, Robertson: Departures that collectively leave the Crusaders without three of the pillars that have carried them to success the past seven years, collecting a trophy in each. The Crusaders aren’t the house that those three built, but the trio went full Grand Designs on it, after the most successful franchise in Super Rugby had stagnated between 2009 and 2016. The departures aren’t just holes to fill in the Crusaders, they’re a chasm. Individually and collectively.
The last season Whitelock didn’t appear on a Crusaders teamsheet was 2009, with even a Japanese sabbatical in 2020 ending up with him turning out for them after returning to New Zealand during the pandemic.
Robertson described Whitelock as an immortal and carrying “god status” before and after their win in the final last year in which the most-capped All Black in history overcame a leg injury to play 80 minutes in the victory.
While the Crusaders can call upon 2020 All Blacks selection Quinten Strange and a trio of promising youngsters waiting in the wings, it’s Whitelock’s experience and mana that will be missed in 2024.
The Crusaders have had higherprofile departures — Richie McCaw and Dan Carter after 2015 because of their standing in the game historically and globally — but it’s likely Mo’unga, Whitelock and Robertson’s exits will be even more keenly felt than those.
And if that wasn’t enough . . .
The departures of those three are significant on their own, but throw in the much-too-soon departure of Leicester Fainga’anuku to Toulon, the injury-plagued-so-understandable departure of Jack Goodhue, the possibly campaign-ending injuries to
Will Jordan and Braydon Ennor, the long injury spells to Fergus Burke and new recruit Leigh Halfpenny, the delayed starts for David Havili and Ethan Blackadder, and extended break of Codie Taylor, and it feels like the seven-straight champions are starting this season in choppier waters for the first time in several years.
Who plays 10?
Mo’unga’s departure is one thing — a player that had developed a Super Rugby superpower in standing up in the big occasions of the competition — but the likely replacement for him in Fergus Burke won’t be sighted until May owing to an Achilles tendon issue from Super Rugby last year.
That leaves Rivez Reihana and Taha Kemara to run the cutter in the early rounds at least, with neither appearing to emerge as the favourite in pre-season making for an interesting selection for Rob Penney for their season opener in Hamilton on Friday night.
The term ‘big shoes to fill’ seems right, given Mo’unga’s lofty comparison to an NFL ‘franchise quarterback’ that Scott Robertson often made.
The coach
Robertson’s departure means a huge change for the Crusaders and their supporters who have embraced each other over the past seven years. Few coaches address their supporters before a big finals match through the on-ground microphone, few rev them up like Robertson did before last year’s semifinal against the Blues.
Robertson has been more akin to an exuberent European football manager than the New Zealand mold of rugby coach. Rob Penney’s not that kind of person. Nor does he need to be but his style will ultimately be different.
His appointment has been widely seen as an interim step until Tamati Ellison is ready to step up in a couple of years. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Penney that he’s a gapfiller but there’s a certain degree of selflessness in doing a job knowing you’re training up your replacement. Many have done such things without even realising.
Penney perhaps belatedly gets a crack at a New Zealand Super Rugby franchise around a decade after his pomp as Canterbury NPC coach. Some eyebrows were raised when Penney got the job given the way he left the Waratahs but it feels like Christchurch’s Rugby Park and Crusaders HQ is a better system for him.