Important win by the Crusaders. It was a reasonably close match, but I thought the Crusaders were clearly the better side in the 1st half, but butchered several try scoring chances. The Blues were probably the better side in the 2nd half but didn't really look like penetrating the Crusaders defense. I thought the Crusaders attack looked pretty sharp in that 1st 20-odd minutes, but they couldn't keep it up. If they can play like that for 80 minutes they should probably be favourites to win the ***le....
A few comments on the players:
- Jimmy Tupou made a impresssive starting debut for the Crusaders. He is better suited to 6 than lock, but his ball running was a real feature. Hopefully S Whitelock's injury is not too serious.
- Read showed some excellent signs with running the ball out wide, Taufua got through a lot of work, and Matt Todd had a strong match too (slightly shading Braid in my opinion).
- Barring that intercept pass I thought Ellis controlled the game very well.
- Dan Carter made a big impact in my opinion. His passing was very crisp, he wasn't afraid to take on the line, and showed some real pace with ball in hand.
- Crotty played well yet again.
- Nadolo was a real weapon. The Crusaders are so much better with him on the wing. I thought he made some key tackles too. Dagg was quiet at fullback, but offer far more security at the back than they get from Tom Taylor! It was good to see McNicholl make an impact when he came on too.
- Tuipolotu continued his strong ball running form
- The loose-trio were all good, but I feel slightly shaded by the Crusaders.
- West's passing game impressed, but he really needs to improve his tackling!
- Nonu was ok, but I wish he would stop kicking the bloody ball away....
- Halai, Piutau, and Visinia were all solid, but didn't get enough space to really show their pace/power.
