Rugby: Hype stirs Crusader recipe

By Wynne Gray

The razzmatazz at the Crusaders home ground is as good as it gets in the Super 12 competition.

The chainmail-clad soldiers thundering round the ground on their mighty steeds, the music, the boisterous crowds roaring their favourites on.

All that hype and hysteria was matched by the rugby last season.

After a troubled start, where they lost three of their first four games, the Crusaders rattled home to take the title with an opportunist late try.

They brought their competitors to their knees and their exultant supporters to their feet.

That frenzy should be repeated tonight when the Crusaders host the opening match of this year's 69-game Super 12 rugby series.

We will have to wait until late May though to find out whether Todd Blackadder and his men can again deliver the right rugby recipe to match the Blues and win successive titles.

The Crusaders have made few squad adjustments. They had to replace Tabai Matson, Tony Marsh and Kevin Nepia who went to France, Blair Feeney and Stu Loe who went to other franchises.

The decision to pick four props instead of three from last year and to play Blackadder at lock meant Graham Jack was the unlucky player to miss out in the reshuffle.

Utility back Leon MacDonald has returned, while new faces are Caleb Ralph and Nathan Mauger in the backline, and Dave Hewett and Greg Sommerville as props.

Getting full seasons out of Afato So'oalo, Justin Marshall, Matt Sexton and Con Barrell, will go a long way towards the team targets after the quartet suffered long-term injuries last year.

This looks a squad of consistent quality, one with very few weaknesses, but one which will pose some curly selection problems, because there are so many options.

Only So'oalo, Andrew Mehrtens, Marshall and Aaron Flynn in the backs will be competing for a specialist position. The rest are interchangeable with the midfield choices between Daryl Gibson, Mark Mayerhofler, MacDonald, Norm Berryman, Ralph and Mauger the most cluttered area. A number of the loose forwards can play dual roles while Blackadder and Reuben Thorne can play either lock or blindside flanker.

The depth will help with substitutions but getting the mix right first will be the test.

Mehrtens' form will decide plenty of the Crusaders' fortunes, as will the team defence, which was a consistent feature last season.

The spotlight will also fall on Gibson, Thorne and Norm Maxwell, all picked in an All Black training squad for the first time over summer.

They have all enjoyed several seasons at first-class level and must be strong contenders to make their way into the World Cup squad later this year.

Performances like the Crusaders turned on last season can only push their cause.

The coaching duo of last year, Wayne Smith and Peter Sloane, has been split, with Sloane moving on to the national panel and away from his portfolio with the Crusaders' pack.

Sloane was the one who guided and superbly drilled that pack, so that it was able to overcome some size problems by playing with a superb combination of passion and technical efficiency.