10 out of 10
But Hurricane warning for Crusaders
It’s time to put the hard word on the Crusaders.
Are they really this good? In the wake of that 62-24 shellacking of the Bulls in Pretoria on Sunday morning (NZT), it was difficult to not ping off the couch, pour champagne for a breakfast tipple, feed the cat some expensive back steaks and tell the neighbours you really do appreciate them doing burn-outs at 2am.
Because even if the clouds are a grimy colour and the temperatures low, every day is a sunny one for jubilant Crusaders supporters who are daring to ask if their boys are a genuine shot at winning the Super Rugby title.
The arrival of new coach Scott Robertson has clearly coincided with this team having some magic spices added to its attack, as it has embarked on a 10-match winning streak that has forced opponents from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan to bow to its superiority.
So back to that question. How hot are these Crusaders, and what should we read into that 10-try annihilation of the Bulls?
We should have the answer when they play the Hurricanes, the current champions, in Christchurch next Saturday night.
There’s history between these two sides, and that just adds to the anticipation. When the Hurricanes last played in Christchurch, for the final round-robin game of last season, they hammered the home side 35-10.
That, in essence, put a dagger into the Crusaders hopes of winning a title under former coach Todd Blackadder, forcing them to travel to Johannesburg for the quarterfinal against the Lions and they got belted 42-25.
Excitement about the Crusaders-Hurricanes game might have been building, but Crusaders assistant coach Brad Mooar said his team only looked at the immediate tasks in previous weeks. ‘‘Now we can genuinely turn our attentions to the Hurricanes,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of people have said we have had one eye on what was coming when we got home, but we were fully focused on the Cheetahs and the Bulls.
‘‘There will be no issue about keeping the feet on the ground. It should be some game shouldn’t it?’’
There was good news on the injury front, too. The casualty rate at Loftus Versfeld, a ground where the Crusaders had not won since 2008, was zero.
Even without inspirational captain and lock Sam Whitelock, who will miss the Hurricanes game because he must serve the second and final week of a suspension for foul play, and No 8 Kieran Read, who has a broken thumb, the Crusaders were unstoppable.
They stripped the Bulls of their dignity by sticking to the pledge of playing the game at pace, the offloading game was superb and the scrum was a scary beast.
The fact is the Bulls were lucky not to be further humiliated, with two of the Crusaders’ tries disallowed because of forward passes in the tackle by wing Seta Tamanivalu.
Historically the Crusaders often perform well in their first game back after a trip to South Africa, and it is imperative their preparations are not compromised against a Hurricanes side that has won eight of their nine games.
Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd and Robertson, having worked alongside each other with the NZ under-20 team, previously duelled from the coaching box when they were in charge of the Wellington and Canterbury provincial teams.
It was Robertson who drew first blood, winning the final in the capital in 2013. It is hard to argue with the line that this will be the most-anticipated game in New Zealand so far this season.