Crusaders lock ‘devastated’ by injury
All the ingredients are there for the Chiefs to cook up a winning recipe in 2020. Aaron Goile reports in the second of our Super Rugby previews.
A broken bone in Quinten Strange’s right-hand means the Crusaders’ lock will have to be patient for an opportunity to fill the void left by All Black Sam Whitelock.
Strange, who busted his hand in the opening few minutes of last Friday’s 41-7 pre-season rout of the Highlanders in Wanaka, is expected to be sidelined for up to five weeks.
The 23-year-old was expected to start in the second row alongside new captain Scott Barrett at Nelson’s Trafalgar Park on Saturday night, when the reigning champions kickoff the new season against the Waratahs.
‘‘Really gutted for him, especially heading into this game at home. Nelson College, Collingwood lad. He was devastated,’’ Crusaders assistant coach Andrew Goodman said after training in Christchurch yesterday.
A year after Strange battled multiple injuries in the second half of the season, the lock’s frustration is particularly understandable given the opportunity in front of him with Whitelock sitting out the season while on a playing sabbatical in Japan.
Mitchell Dunshea, who started last year’s final in place of the injured Barrett, or veteran Luke Romano are the frontrunners to start alongside Barrett, while rookie Cullen Grace is another option.
Outside Strange and flankers Billy Harmon (knee) and Ethan Blackadder (shoulder), Goodman confirmed the remainder of the squad, including the team’s eight All Blacks, were available for selection.
However, when head coach Scott Robertson makes his first team of 2020 public tomorrow afternoon, chances are not all his All Blacks will be thrust into the starting side.
‘‘We’re going to have to use that wisely in the next couple of weeks,’’ Goodman said of how the team will juggle their reintroduction.
While centre Braydon Ennor, who did not feature at the World Cup, completed his return to play minutes in the pre-season, the team’s other representatives are limited to 180-minutes across the first three rounds. Coaches are instructed to build the load by, if possible, starting with 40 minutes in round one, then 60, and finally 80.
All Black Jack Goodhue, predominantly a centre, was training at second-five eighth yesterday and is expected to run out in the starting side alongside Ennor as the post-ryan Crotty era begins.
‘‘He’ll be a big link for us in that 12-13 role with [Crotty’s] experience gone, and maybe looking to use Braydon more at 13 this year,’’ Goodman said.
Restricted minutes for All Black wings George Bridge and Sevu Reece need not grate Crusaders fans, given the team can call upon Manasa Mataele, Will Jordan and Leicester Faingaanuku, who scored two tries in a eye-popping performance against the Highlanders last week.
Jordan, who trained on the rightwing yesterday, also shone in the preseason and has been busy honing his craft under the team’s new assistant coach, Welshman Mark Jones.
Goodman, having coached Tasman to the Mitre 10 Cup title last year and replaced Ronan O’gara as the team’s backs coach, said the topic of how the team would juggle their backline stocks had been a hot topic among the coaching staff.
‘‘I’m loving it. I’ve got a pretty exciting bunch of young backs. I was lucky enough to work alongside and see what Rog [O’gara] has done over the last couple of years, so we’re just trying to grow that because it’s all about getting better as a unit,’’ he said.
The Crusaders said yesterday their 2020 home and away kits would feature the team’s new Tohu logo, which the team unveiled last month after concluding their brand review.
In the NRL you’ll hear them talk about ‘the premiership window’, in reference to teams’ title chances. Wide open or slammed shut? And for the Chiefs in Super Rugby in 2020, it looks like a prime time to strike.
The Hamilton-based franchise have been ‘‘nearly men’’ since their maiden title triumph in 2012 and the back-to-back efforts of 2013 in Dave Rennie’s first two years as coach.
In the six seasons following, the Chiefs haven’t been back to a decider, yet they have always featured in the playoffs. Their eight-year finals footy stretch is a record current run for any team in the competition.
Now this season, with the homecoming of vastly experienced coach Warren Gatland and a one-year cameo for former All Blacks playmaker Aaron Cruden, they look a serious prospect of dusting out that trophy cabinet.
That is despite the loss of world-class lock Brodie Retallick (playing sabbatical in Japan), which speaks to the quality through the rest of the squad.
Retallick’s absence makes the second-row department the
Chiefs’ biggest challenge. It features uncapped duo Laghlan Mcwhannell and Naitoa Ah Kuoi, while Michael Allardice, entering a sixth Super season, will have to be heavily relied on, and Canada captain Tyler Ardron – very impressive last year – will surely be asked to again move from the loose.
But if they can get by there, the rest of the Chiefs pack offers plenty.
Up front there is the luxury of three All Blacks props, in Atu Moli, Angus Ta’avao and Nepo Laulala, while Reuben O’neill will be eager to impress too, after being called into the national squad in 2018 but still waiting to debut at Super level after an