Battle of the Crusaders halfbacks
Mitchell Drummond knows to expect a particularly chirpy Bryn Hall in Auckland tonight.
Teammates for the majority of the year, the Crusaders’ halfbacks will clash at Albany as reigning champions Canterbury visit North Harbour in the opening fixture of the fifth round of the Mitre 10 Cup.
It’s not the first time the pair have gone head-to-head since Hall joined the Crusaders at the start of the 2017 season, but it’s a match up Drummond says has got their competitive juices boiling.
The pair have been firing off texts to one another in recent days, and plan to catch up on the eve of the match.
‘‘Me and Bryn are good mates,’’ Drummond said at Canterbury training on Tuesday.
‘‘I think I speak for both of us when I say we’re really looking forward to going hammer and tongs at each other tomorrow. But that’s just the nature of both of us . . . I guess once it’s time to go tomorrow she’ll be all on.’’
The Drummond and Hall onetwo punch worked a treat for the Crusaders the past two seasons, with the pair complementing each other on the way to securing back-to-back Super Rugby titles.
A year after Drummond started eight matches, Hall was coach Scott Robertson’ preferred starter this year, making 13 runon starts compared to Drummond’s five.
Canterbury, who have a short turnaround before hosting unbeaten Auckland on Sunday, are missing a bunch of players as they target a fourth consecutive win. Lock Luke Romano (calf) and hooker Greg Pleasants-Tate (neck) both pulled up lame after last week’s win against Manawatu¯ , while flanker Tom Sanders was concussed during the match.
All three could miss both this week’s games, while assistant coach Nathan Mauger was optimistic centre Braydon Ennor (hamstring) would be available to play Auckland. Canterbury: George Bridge, Josh McKay, Ngane Punivai, Sam Beard, Caleb Makene, Brett Cameron, Mitchell Drummond (cc), Whetukamokamo Douglas (cc), Tom Christie, Reed Prinsep, Mitchell Dunshea, Hamish Dalzell, Sef Fa’agase, Nathan Vella, Alex Hodgman. Reserves: Brodie McAlister, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Chris King, Ben Morris, Hugh Renton, Connor Collins, Phil Burleigh, Filimoni Waqainabete.