Canterbury get more ABs
Scott Robertson must have been searching for someone to high-five when he learned All Blacks Codie Taylor and Ryan Crotty would be released for Canterbury’s match against Northland in Whangarei on Saturday night.
Given his side made a terrific start to their national provincial championship campaign by walloping Auckland and Tasman, Robertson surely cannot believe his luck with this latest news.
Having been allowed to pick All Blacks lock Luke Romano for those early games, by using him as a replacement, he now has the opportunity to bolster his front row and backline with hooker Taylor and midfielder Crotty, respectively.
Neither was considered for last weekend’s test against the Wallabies because they had suffered head knocks in the first Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney on August 20. Taylor, rushed into the starting side as a late replacement for hooker Nathan Harris, left the field in the opening minutes and Crotty was replaced at halftime.
If All Blacks coach Steve Hansen requests Taylor and Crotty start, it will require Ben Funnell to shift out of the front row and either Rob Thompson or Jack Goodhue to exit the midfield. That’s not great news for Northland, who could potentially face a Canterbury side stacked with six All Blacks.
Meanwhile, Robertson barely blinked when asked about his side’s high turnover count against Tasman last Sunday. Given Canterbury scored 88 points against Auckland and Tasman, Robertson could afford to be sanguine despite the fact his side lost possession 30 times in 160 minutes.
That, he shrugged, could be the price you pay under the new breakdown trial laws which have reduced the defensive side’s chances of digging out treasured turnovers. Here’s what happened during Canterbury’s 45-14 win over Tasman at AMI Stadium. Canterbury may have scored five tries, three in the final quarter, but they turned the ball over 18 times. A week earlier, when they humiliated Auckland 43-3 at the same venue, they lost possession on 12 occasions.
‘‘It took 50 to 60 minutes for those passes to stick,’’ Robertson said.
Under the new rules if you give the ball away you risk being a goner. For a team like Canterbury, who have always been keen to have a go, this is a green light to go hell for leather.
While guilty of giving the ball away because their timing wasn’t quite there, or their handling let them down, they had a valuable insurance policy in a scrum that several times ripped Tasman apart on their own feed.
‘‘You still need to play, because if you kick the ball away, you lose possession,’’ Robertson stated. ‘‘What Tasman did really well, was they put contestables up. And we didn’t look after it, they held the ball, we defended and they got penalties.’’