Crusaders dig deep after shock loss to Tahs
Halfback Bryn Hall has sat through few post-match reviews like the one the Crusaders underwent in recent days.
Head coach Scott Robertson had promised to leave no stone unturned in the aftermath of their shoddy 24-21 loss to the Waratahs in Sydney, and what followed was honest, eye-opening and damning.
Hall, now in his sixth year at the Crusaders, called it one of the ‘‘better reviews’’, albeit fair after they dropped three games in a season for the first time under Robertson.
Unforced mistakes, ill discipline, a malfunctioning lineout, missed tackles. It was all there to see.
However, what particularly hurt Hall were the questions asked about the team’s start, after it fell behind 14-0 inside the first quarter, and 17-0 at halftime.
‘‘Look, we’re going to lose games, we’ve lost games in the past, but when you question around our start and were we really there, and having those kind of [mindset] questions ... it hurts as a player,’’ Hall said.
‘‘I think for us, it’s the kind of traits that we live by that we weren’t living up to. That’s probably the most thing that hurt.’’
What also stung was interim captain Codie Taylor’s comments shortly after the final whistle at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday night, when he said the Waratahs wanted it more.
‘‘And it’s fair, it’s fair comments. If you look at that first 20-30 minutes, you can’t really question it,’’ Hall said, adding the team had made sluggish starts the last five or six games.
‘‘That’s probably what hurt for us, we have a standard that we
want to live up to and I have this crest on my right chest that we live by...’’
With four games remaining – two in Australia and two back home – before the sudden death matches, now is typically the time the 12-times champions start flexing their muscles and building momentum.
Third on the ladder, six points behind the tabletopping Blues, their run home starts against the Force in Perth on Saturday night.
Having watched them push the Blues agonisingly close, only to come up short after stringing together 26 phases on their line at the death, Hall said players emerged from the review with a bounce, eager to right a bunch of wrongs against a side which had historically caused them problems in Perth.
‘‘I think the coaching staff did a really great job with the senior leaders around accountability, and being able to see how we get better and make a shift moving forward,’’ he said.
‘‘There was a lot of care and emotion around it, but at the same time there were a lot of solutions. Which is great for us because we can now go outside, get all that stuff down and get on the field and implement what we need to.’’
As the Crusaders await on the fate of lock Hamish Dalzell, who was red carded for a high-shot on Waratahs flanker Michael Hooper, that includes tackle technique.
With Dalzell joining fellow lock Scott Barrett among the three Crusaders sent off so far this season, that’s especially true for their big men, defence coach Tamati Ellison said.
‘‘If they get their feet wrong and the attacker is falling, it’s hard to pull out of that one once you’ve accelerated in. So, really important that they keep their eyes open, and they keep their hit height down,’’ he said.