Crusaders coach to review ‘everything’
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson appears to have copped the Super Rugby champions’ latest red card and says they must improve in every area after a shock defeat in Sydney.
Replacement lock Hamish Dalzell was sent off for a high shot on Wallabies captain Michael Hooper in Saturday night’s 24-21 loss to the Waratahs.
Dalzell is almost certain to be banned this week. That will further deplete the Crusaders’ second row stocks after injuries to Mitchell Dunshea, Quinten Strange and Zach Gallagher and with skipper Scott Barrett still serving a four-game ban for a late high hit against the Blues.
Dalzell’s 67th minute red card was instantly followed by the sinbinning of flanker Pablo Matera for illegally sacking a maul, leaving the Crusaders down to 13 men on a night where Waratahs flanker Charlie Gamble was the best-performed Cantabrian at Leichhardt Oval.
Minutes before his banishment Dalzell – a late call-up after 20-year-old Gallagher withdrew on match eve with a shoulder niggle – had escaped sanction for contact with a dipping Waratahs pivot Tane Edmed.
Robertson wasn’t looking to blame anyone else for the Crusaders’ struggles, certainly not the match officials.
Asked at the post-match press conference if he felt the red card was justified, Robertson said it was ‘‘difficult to judge’’ high tackles and there was sometimes ‘‘no clear line’’.
But he did concede: ‘‘Dalzy’s tackle technique needs to get better, I know that. He’s a big man [2.01m] but he could have done better around it.
‘‘It’s a bit disappointing for Hoops to take that head knock. There was no malice in it, but it was definitely technically poor.’’
Hooper had to leave the field for a HIA, a big blow for theWaratahs after he and Gamble had bossed the Crusaders at the breakdown.
Gamble snaffled a game-saving turnover near fulltime to preserve the win and, in some ways, prove a point.
A North Canterbury product who played for St Bede’s College’s first XV, Gamble left for Sydney after a spell in the Crusaders’ academy and after failing to gain a place in Robertson’s New Zealand under-20 team following a poor trial.
Gamble played alongside another Cantabrian in the final stages, with Darfield club stalwart and Hawke’s Bay lock Geoff Cridge joining the fray in the final quarter.
The Waratahs stung the Crusaders from the outset when wing Dylan Pietsch scored their first try in the second minute.
Mark Nawaqanitawase doubled their lead 10 minutes later with another try off a neat Izaia Perese offload.
‘‘We were on the back foot straight away, 14 points down under a lot of pressure,’’ Robertson said.
It’s a rare game where the Crusaders fail to score a single point in the first half, but they found themselves 17-0 down at the break.
They fought back with a penalty try after Waratahs backrower Rahboni Warren-Vosayaco was sinbinned for offside play at a ruck on his own line.
Replacement flanker Sione Havili Talitui put the Crusaders within striking distance at 17-14 in the 60th minute after some concerted attacks.
But the Waratahs pulled further ahead through a penalty try when Matera was marched for his maul malfeasance a minute after Dalzell’s red card.
Substitute prop Fletcher Newell crashed over in the 74th minute to give the Crusaders a glimmer of hope but some mighty maul work by Jed Holloway and Gamble’s key steal sent the Sydneysiders home celebrating.
Asked what went wrong, Robertson said: ‘‘We’re looking for the answers ourselves, to be fair’’.
The Crusaders are still third but have yet to convince across the Tasman and Robertson said they would be ‘‘looking at everything’’ to rediscover their mojo ahead of Saturday’s game against the Western Force in Perth.