Crusaders and Highlanders in race to bottom
Digging into the Crusaders’ and Highlanders’ muck makes for a foul job.
Indeed, as it stands, it appears to be a race to the bottom for the two struggling South Island franchises.
Both teams are copping it from all directions, in particular Crusaders coach Rob Penney, whose job is safe this season, chief executive Colin Mansbridge has made clear.
But beyond this year it has to be in serious doubt if the reigning champions don’t cash in on the looming return of a bunch of key players and finish the season strongly.
The good news for both teams is they have time to salvage their season, even before they face off in a battle of the desperate in Dunedin in a few weeks.
Here’s this week’s power rankings, in which staff ignore the official ladder and rank the 12 teams.
1. HURRICANES (8-0), PREVIOUS RANK: 1 (-)
Dodged the bullet of facing the Drua in the Lautoka heat, but there should be little doubt the competition leaders would have fended off that challenge successfully.
But it’s not all good news for the Canes, who are sweating on hooker Asafo Aumua’s scan results, after he needed help getting off the park with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
With the Hurricanes having already lost halfback Cam Roigard to a season-ending injury, fans ought to be anxious.
2. BLUES (7-1) PREVIOUSLY: 2 (-)
Can we just fast-forward to May 11, when the Blues host the Hurricanes at Eden Park?
After crushing the Brumbies with eye-opening ease on Saturday night, the Blues sure look like the team best equipped to knock the men from the capital off their perch.
First-year head coach Vern Cotter has built upon what Leon MacDonald started and added a hardened edge to this group.
3: REBELS (5-3), PREVIOUSLY: 3 (+1)
Put their feet up last week on the back of three straight wins. Now, they head to Christchurch with a chance to ram another nail in the Crusaders’ coffin. The last time they won in the Garden City was round one of the 2015 season.
4. CHIEFS (5-3), PREVIOUSLY: 5 (+1)
The pre-season favourites aren’t being talked about as much as the Hurricanes and Blues, not that head coach Clayton McMillan will care.
Freshened up after their round-nine bye, that could well change in the coming weeks with games against the Waratahs (away), Force (home), Moana Pasifika (away) and Rebels (away) to come.
5. REDS (4-4), PREVIOUSLY: 9 (+4)
The most impressive thing about their romp over the Highlanders was they did it without the suspended Tate McDermott and Fraser McReight. Whether they can cope without them against the Blues in Brisbane on Saturday night is an entirely different story.
6. BRUMBIES (6-2), PREVIOUSLY: 3 (-3)
That was as bad as it gets from the Brumbies, even worse than their round-two stinker against the Chiefs in Melbourne. They didn’t do a thing well en route to a a 46-7 hammering by the Blues, and have now folded in inexplicable fashion against the two genuinely good sides they’ve faced to date. Frauds? Perhaps so. Let’s see how they handle the Hurricanes in Canberra on Saturday afternoon.
7. FIJIAN DRUA (3-5), PREVIOUSLY: 6 (-1)
Might have survived their shockingly high-error count against a lesser side, but were made to pay by the Hurricanes. However, they’re more than a good chance to get back on track in the Lautoka heat on Saturday, when Moana Pasifika come to town.
8. WARATAHS (2-6), PREVIOUSLY: 7 (-1)
It was always clear the Waratahs were a better team than their record indicated, well before they pipped the Crusaders and finally won a close one.
Now, fresh off their bye week, the Tahs get a chance to show just how good they are when they host the Chiefs in Sydney. They lost a tight one in the corresponding fixture a year ago.
9. MOANA PASIFIKA (3-5), PREVIOUSLY: 8 (-1)
Idle the past week, Tana Umaga’s men are now tasked with arguably the most difficult road trip in the competition. So tricky have Lautoka conditions been for opponents tasked with facing the Drua in Lautoka that competition officials recently created more scope for heat-related interventions.
10. FORCE (2-6) PREVIOUSLY: 12 (+2).
Beating this year’s Crusaders doesn’t warrant the kudos it normally would. But let’s give this mob of journeymen some praise, after they rubbed the Crusaders’ noses in their own muck by steaming over for two tries via lineout drives.
11. CRUSADERS (1-6), PREVIOUSLY: 10 (-1)
There was zilch to like about the red-andblacks’ 37-15 defeat to the Force in Perth last week.
But nothing was worse than the two rolling maul tries they leaked in the second half, followed closely by some players operating too individually and looking lost.
Yep, their hefty injury toll and unavailability of key players can excuse only so much, and you have to wonder if their agonising defeat to the Waratahs the previous week broke them?
Their home game against the Rebels on Friday night will be telling.
12. HIGHLANDERS (2-6), PREVIOUSLY: 11 (-1)
Blanked for just the fourth time in Super Rugby history, the Highlanders’ 31-0 defeat to the Reds last Friday night was as grim as it gets. Perhaps the so-called young guns coming through the ranks are not what some advertised them as.