Super Rugby 2024

formerly known as Sam wrote:Mainly because Moana Pasifika was artificially created and then dropped into Auckland. If they were playing games around the islands they'd get better crowds.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Mainly because Moana Pasifika was artificially created and then dropped into Auckland. If they were playing games around the islands they'd get better crowds.

Collapse2005 wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Mainly because Moana Pasifika was artificially created and then dropped into Auckland. If they were playing games around the islands they'd get better crowds.

Seems a bit dodgy that a PI team would be based in NZ. All players racking up the five year residency requirement while playing super rugby for a PI side. Hmm.

carpet baboon wrote:Have the crusaders lost a lot of players?

Rugby Fan wrote:Western Force have just gone 30-15 up against the Crusaders with under six minutes left.

Can't recall a champion side imploding quite so quickly. The assumption has always been that the Crusdaders will make the Super Rugby play-offs despite a poor start but there must be some doubts creeping in now.

EDIT: The Force score on the stroke of full-time, and made it 37-15. The Crusaders are at the foot of the table.

Rugby Fan wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:Have the crusaders lost a lot of players?

Richie Mo’unga, Sam Whitelock, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Jack Goodhue and Sione Havili Talitui all left.

It's still a good squad but they've had injuries (Halfpenny will hardly feature)

Codie Taylor
Brodie McAlister
George Bell
Ioane Moananu
Joe Moody
Finlay Brewis
George Bower
Tamaiti Williams
Fletcher Newell
Scott Barrett (capt)
Quinten Strange
Tahlor Cahill
Zach Gallagher
Jamie Hannah
Ethan Blackadder
Cullen Grace
Tom Christie
Christian Lio-Willie
Corey Kellow
Dominic Gardiner
Noah Hotham
Mitchell Drummond
Willi Heinz
Fergus Burke
Taha Kemara
Rivez Reihana
David Havili
Dallas McLeod
Levi Aumua
Ryan Crotty
Jone Rova
Will Jordan
Sevu Reece
Macca Springer
Manasa Mataele
Chay Fihaki
Leigh Halfpenny
Heremaia Murray

A red and black season of misery has officially hit rock bottom. In a remarkable fall from grace, the reigning champion Crusaders occupy the wooden-spoon position after their embarrassing 37-15 defeat to the Force in Perth on Saturday night.

Now with one lousy win from eight games to their name, their second loss in Australia in as many weeks ensured they were leapfrogged by the previously last-placed Force, a team littered with journeymen.

In a season stacked with lame performances, this one takes the cake as the worst of all.

Poor discipline, bad defensive reads, a faltering lineout, loose carries, questionable decision-making, an overly lateral attack, an ongoing inability to exit their half efficiently - the list goes on.

And, perhaps most telling of all when it comes to gauging where the Crusaders’ heads are at, they coughed up two rolling maul tries to the Force.

Yes, remember when rumbling over the chalk via a lineout drive against the Crusaders was considered so difficult teams didn’t even bother trying it?

At the other end of the field, for what felt like the umpteenth time this year, the Crusaders made a meal of a lineout 5m from the line, the area of the field they once punished teams with brutal and ruthless efficiency...

...Dead last but still only six points outside the top-eight, the Crusaders remain alive.

But it’s increasingly difficult to imagine them featuring in the playoffs after their latest stinker, even with Scott Barrett and David Havili due back from injury.

What’s clear is their body language said a lot when things went wrong in Perth.