McCaw gets spell as Blackadder seeks more bite
Todd Blackadder kept a straight face when he said his erratic Crusaders were interrupting his sleep patterns.
Maybe that was because he was deadly serious.
While the Chiefs, Hurricanes and Highlanders backlines have been butchering defences with their deft handling, canny offloads and power-running, their Crusaders counterparts are still playing as if they are nursing the most wicked of hangovers and cannot see through bloodshot eyes.
Their high error-rate is driving everyone nuts and Blackadder, who yesterday announced Richie McCaw would be rested from the Super Rugby match against the Cheetahs at AMI Stadium on Saturday night, cannot camouflage his frustration.
‘‘It is keeping me awake at night, it really is,’’ Blackadder says. ‘‘This isn’t the start of the competition – we are well into it now and we just need to keep making the right progress.’’
Given the dissatisfaction with the way the Crusaders have been performing, even after a 32-6 win over the Lions last week, Blackadder may have wanted to keep rolling out McCaw as he demands improvement.
The decision to keep the All Blacks skipper, who started the previous four matches and recorded 286 minutes, out of the match-day 23 dovetails nicely into their plans to bring Matt Todd back to openside flanker.
A tired Todd was rested last week. Now it’s McCaw turn to recuperate.
‘‘Richie was in the same boat, so it was just about freshening those two up,’’ Blackadder stated.
The Crusaders’ have a daunting two-match tour of South Africa, where they will meet the Bulls and Sharks, to come and McCaw may already be pencilled in to start at No 6 in Pretoria and Durban.
Blackadder will hope Todd has a explosive surprise in store for the South Africans; he has been the Crusaders’ top tackler and last year he proved his value to the attack with his link-play and accurate handling.
Blackadder has again raised eyebrows by naming Colin Slade at first five-eighth, which means Dan Carter is again listed at No 12.
Carter did nothing flashy in the win over the Lions last week but he kicked six of his seven shots at goal, defended and distributed diligently and provided an experienced voice to a backline down on confidence.
Upon his return from his sabbatical last year Carter played outside Slade but Blackadder promised he would get an opportunity to return to first-five.
‘‘There will be changes at some stage, we have got a few things up our sleeve. We know DC will, at some stage, want to play No 10.’’
Blackadder emphasised there was no pressure from All Blacks coach Steve Hansen to select players in certain positions.
Blackadder said he gave serious consideration to starting Israel Dagg on the right wing in the absence of the injured Johnny McNicholl. Although Dagg undoubtedly sees himself as an outright fullback, the opportunity to play on the wing would showcase his versatility and could prove extremely valuable ahead of the World Cup.