Hail Crusaders for wet weather win
Richie Mo’unga’s enforced break may soon be over.
Whether the Crusaders’ first five-eighth, who hasn’t played since a mis-timed tackle on Stormers prop Steven Kitshoff on March 3 left him nursing a fractured jaw, will be selected to play the Brumbies next weekend will be revealed in the lead-up to the Super Rugby fixture in Canberra.
The first-five, who recently required a minor operation on the plate that had been inserted in his jaw, will be monitored this week and if medical staff are happy with his progress he could be asked to travel with the squad when they leave Christchurch on Thursday.
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson has options at No 10. Mike Delany started there in the ugly 33-11 win over the Sunwolves at AMI Stadium on Saturday night, with Mitchell Hunt occupying the spot in the previous five games.
In regards to Mo’unga, the welcome news is he has been active at training and the sight of him not avoiding contact suggests his confidence is high.
Robertson is also poised to power-up his forward pack, bringing back captain and lock Sam Whitelock, hooker Codie Taylor, No 8 Jordan Taufua, and blindside flanker Heiden Bedwell-Curtis if he is preferred ahead of Pete Samu.
Leg injuries suffered by hooker Ben Funnell and Tom Sanders, the pair were forced to retire against the Sunwolves, are expected to sideline them for a period of time while loosehead prop Wyatt Crockett was a late withdrawal because of concussion.
The backline should welcome back fullback David Havili, but centre Jack Goodhue may be given longer to recover from the hamstring problem incurred against the Lions on April 2.
The team’s review of the Sunwolves game won’t be bursting with highlights.
Early in the second half, when the visitors closed the gap to 14-11, the hardy 9000-strong crowd must have wondered if they were about to witness one of the biggest upsets in Super Rugby history.
The impressive storm that rumbled over the ground in the first half, and lashed the teams with hail and rain, also appeared to wash away the Crusaders’ memories of how to adjust to working with a slippery ball and a soaked ground.
‘‘We tried to adapt with our skill execution and discipline around the breakdown,’’ Robertson said.
‘‘They didn’t really threaten or break us much, but we just gave a couple of breakdown penalties away, a couple of little scrum penalties.
‘‘We didn’t quite get that lineout ball right, and gave a couple of turnovers and they were in the game. It got a little bit frantic, just as that lightning and thunder came and everyone screamed out of that stand.’’
His latter comment referred to the spectators in the uncovered seats making a frantic dash for cover.
Maybe, if they had realised how the game would disintegrate into a sloppy slog, they would have kept on charging through the exits to their cars to turn the heaters on.
Statistics should never be relied upon to paint the full picture, but some numbers were damning nonetheless: 19 turnovers, and four lineouts lost – messy stuff after the converted tries to Ryan Crotty and Matt Todd in the opening minutes.
It required late tries from Manasa Mataele and Jack Stratton to ensure the Sunwolves remained winless
‘‘We made a lot of errors, mistakes and gave away a lot pen- alties after a pretty impressive start, and then it felt like we probably didn’t quite execute in a couple of key moments down our end,’’ Robertson noted.
‘‘And then defended for so long against a hugely brave Sunwolves team. You have to give them credit, they fronted up today. They could have taken a pretty big scalp at one stage.’’