Plea for team to reduce penalties

They may be 11,000 kilometres away in muggy Durban, but there is no mistaking the irritation in the voices of Andy Ellis and Aaron Mauger.

Having spent the best part of a week bubbling in their own juices after the 31-19 loss to the Bulls last weekend, the Crusaders must be tempted to waltz down to the nearest tattoo den and have the word ‘‘discipline’’ inscribed on their knuckles. Because somehow, at some point, the message needs to get through.

Halfback Ellis knows that that result in Pretoria would have been reversed if his side hadn’t conceded 14 penalties (which contributed to the 19 turnovers) at altitude, where, predictably, Handre Pollard landed four of his six penalty attempts and converted two of the Bulls’ three tries.

Now the Crusaders are under immense pressure to beat the Sharks in Durban, a city they haven’t toasted a victory in since 2009.

Sure, the Sharks are missing fire-snorting hooker Bismarck du Plessis and mean centre Frans Steyn through suspension, but the Crusaders will be without fiveeighth Dan Carter who has returned home on paternity leave.

And flanker Richie McCaw has been named on the bench, a decision assistant coach Mauger said was part of a plan to manage his workload and to allow his 34-year-old body to recover from the belting he copped against the Bulls.

Irritation could be one way to describe the messages Ellis and Mauger conveyed down a telephone line from South Africa;

The disappointing thing, probably, from last week was that it was something we actually focused on and knew they would kick anything from 60m. And we still continued to give away silly penalties, and it just allowed them to take the game away from us.’ Andrew Ellis

maybe you could also add anger and frustration.

‘‘The disappointing thing, probably, from last week was that it was something we actually focused on and knew they would kick anything from 60m,’’ Ellis said. ‘‘And we still continued to give away silly penalties, and it just allowed them to take the game away from us. It is probably a bit the same this week, with the way [Patrick] Lambie kicks. He doesn’t miss anything from 50m.’’

One of the major perpetrators in Pretoria was McCaw. Referee Angus Gardner pinged him four times, although several of those were debatable.

The longer the game went on, the more Gardner revelled in his work as he punished players for a variety of reasons; high shots on a sliding opponent, no arms in a tackle, wonky engagement angles and no binding in the scrums and not releasing ruck ball – they all mounted up.

Ellis is serious when he says Sharks goal-kicker Lambie is a threat. He may not have the remarkable range of Steyn but he has the potential to cause the Crusaders major consternation.

Mauger, as the attack coach, must have swayed between delight and despair in Pretoria. His men made 13 line breaks to the Bulls’ three, yet still conceded three tries to one. Forward passes, bad decisions and botched transfers were costly.

But he emphasised the foundation of success against the Sharks at King’s Park must start with an iron determination to not concede penalties. A repeat of what transpired at Loftus Versfeld would be unacceptable.

The forecast in Durban is for hot weather and the ball is expected to be slippery with sweat.

That, and that the Sharks kick more than any other team in the competition, could force the Crusaders to temper the impressive counter-attacking game they unleashed against the Bulls.

‘‘As we have found in previous years, if you get into a physical battle it is pretty hard to get on top and probably neutralises that part of our game’’, Mauger said.

‘‘There are probably opportunities to move them around a little bit more. South Africans probably don’t play as quick a tempo as New Zealand teams, so maybe that is an advantage for us.’’