Crusaders v Blues Review

After watching the first two rounds of Super Rugby with my Crusaders sitting out on the sidelines, I was chomping at the bit to see how our boys would go in their first hit out against the Blues.

One of the great New Zealand sporting rivalries, Canterbury v Auckland, a lot of hype went into the pre game build up, especially after the Blues had got their 2013 campaign off to a winning start the previous round against the Hurricanes.

Sadly from a Crusader supporters perspective it was a rather disappointing outing for our boys. The first round bye for the Crusaders probably didn't help, however if history teaches us anything it's that the Crusaders are notoriously slow starters in the competition.

That being said there didn't seem to be a lot of things working well for the Crusaders. The Blues forwards were brutal at the breakdown and gave their backs the perfect platform to unleash their potent backs, including Rene Ranger who has started his season off with a hiss and a roar.

Their we're early questions raised about the selection of Israel Dagg on the wing, rather than his preferred position of fullback and they were answered. The first of 3 tries to be scored on his wing as well as limited scoring options meant for a long night at the office for Dagg. Thankfully he has been reverted back to fullback for the clash against the Hurricanes later this week. Always seemed to be a question mark having one of the games best fullbacks out of position.

Todd Blackadder would certainly not have been happy with the statistics department. 24 missed tackles, 11 penalties, 11 handling errors and 17 turnovers. This will certainly need to be rectified ASAP to ensure they build throughout the competition.

Sir John Kirwan would have been pleased once again with his young team. The back three young guns - Francis Saili, Charles Piutau and Frank Halai are all explosive threats with ball in hand and with each game no doubt their potential could well cause havoc for opposition teams. It's not very often a team can pull off 5 tries against an attacking team like the Crusaders and not concede a single one.

A slight concern would be their line-out, with the Crusaders able to snaffle and disrupt their rhythm.

From an Auckland point of view, their fans will be hoping they can continue playing like this and they could well be in finals contention. Will certainly bring some respectability back to their rugby after last years horror season.

Time will tell.