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Trafalgar Park, Nelson (25-06-2011, 08:35 GMT)
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder says that he wants his team to "unleash" in the Super Rugby finals which start for them on Saturday against the Sharks in Nelson. It's remarkable that the Crusaders are even in the Super Rugby play offs given what they have been through this season.
All of their home matches have been played away after they lost their home ground in the Christchurch earthquake and then in the middle of the season they were hit with extensive injuries. Despite all of their obstacles the Crusaders won the New Zealand conference and won 11 of their 16 matches with a draw and four defeats in the extended season.
Sharks coach John Plumtree believes the trip to New Zealand for Saturday's Super Rugby play-off match against the Crusaders in Nelson will be their greatest obstacle. The Durban outfit sealed their place in the top six of the competition with a 26-23 victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday. The coastal team must now embark on an 11,000km journey to face the seven-time champions. The Sharks have been boosted by the news that Odwa Ndungane and Eugene van Staden have been added to the 22-man squad that did duty in Pretoria over the weekend.
Steven Sykes stayed behind with a knee injury, as did Riaan Swanepoel, who is not eligible for the play offs, failing to play enough regular season matches. Frederic Michalak can make the trip to Nelson though. Despite only playing 2 matches, he is allowed to play due to the fact he was only signed recently and his match percentage is 100% since his arrival.
In recent years, the Crusaders have shown to be true All Blacks, choking on their way to the silverware. In 2007, 2009 and 2010 the Christchurch boys were eliminated by later winners the Bulls. The Crusaders are big favourites to win their knock out clash as no South African team has won a finals game in New Zealand and the Crusaders have never lost a home playoff match but they won't be taking the Sharks lightly.
When the teams met earlier this season, the venue was Twickenham, England. This due to the earthquake in Christchurch. The match was scheduled at the "Temple of Rugby" to show Europe what Super Rugby can offer and the benefits would be donated to the earthquake victims. In London, the Crusaders won 44-28, scoring 5 tries to the Sharks' 4. Daniel Carter, Robbie Fruean and Sonny-Bill Williams were the big guns who won the game that day, while the Sharks were impotent in the first 30 minutes with Lambie missing due to injury. If things will go the Crusaders' way again this weekend, they will stay undefeated against South African opposition tat home, They will be undefeated in the play offs against the Sharks. When the 2 met in 1998, it was the first play off clash between the 2, which the Crusaders won 36-32, thanks to tries by Norm Berryman (2), Darul Lilley and Darul Gibson. Andrew Mehrtens, born in Durban, slotted 2 conversions and 4 penalties. For the Sharks, Ollie Le Roux (2), Shaun Payne, Stefan Terblanche and Kevin Putt crossed the line for a 5-pointer and Andre Joubert added the extra's for 2, plus a penalty. This will be their second 'do or die'-encounter.
The best result by the Sharks when they played the Crusaders in New Zealand, was in 1997, when a 26-26 draw was the result. The Sharks did however manage to score 4 tries on the day. Henry Honiball, Mark Andrews, Pieter Muller and Wickus van Heerden scored them, with Honiball converting 3. The biggest performance by the Crusaders against the Sharks came in 2005, beating them 77-34 in a try-fest. Caleb Ralph, Casey Laulala, Chris Jack, Dan Carter, Greg Sommerville, Justin Marshall, Leon McDonald, Rico Gear (2), Ross Filipo and Scott Hamilton scored the tries for the Christchurch franchise while Carter (7) and Mehrtens (4) converted all of them together. The Sharks however, did manage to score 5 tries themselves. Albert van den Berg, Brent Russell, Cedric Mkhize, Rudi Keil and Warren Britz did it for the Banana Boys with Conrad Barnard converting 3 and Ruan Pienaar adding 3 points from the kicking tee.
The teams:
Crusaders: 15. Tom Marshall, 14. Sean Maitland, 13. Robbie Fruean, 12. Sonny-Bill Williams, 11. Zac Guildford, 10. Daniel Carter, 9. Andy Ellis, 8. Kieran Read (c), 7. Matt Todd, 6. George Whitelock, 5. Sam Whitelock, 4. Brad Thorn, 3. Owen Franks, 2. Corey Flynn, 1. Wyatt Crockett
16. Quentin MacDonald 17. Ben Franks 18. Luke Romano 19. Jonathan Poff 20. Kahn Fotuali'i 21. Matt Berquist 22. Ryan Crotty/Brent Ward
Sharks: 15. Patrick Lambie, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Stefan Terblanche (c), 12. Meyer Bosman, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Frederic Michalak, 9. Charl McLeod, 8. Willem Alberts, 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Keegan Daniel, 5. Alistar Hargreaves, 4. Gerhard Mostert, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira
16. John Smit , 17. Eugene van Staden , 18. Ross Skeate , 19. Ryan Kankowski , 20. Jacques Botes , 21. Adrian Jacobs , 22. Louis Ludik
The match will be officiated by an all-NZ quartet.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence
AR 1: Keith Brown
AR 2: Vinny Munro
TMO: Garratt Williamson
History in the regular season:
1996 Sharks 58-26 Crusaders
1997 Crusaders 26-26 Sharks
1998 Sharks 20-32 Crusaders
1999 Crusaders 34-29 Sharks
2000 Sharks 24-32 Crusaders
2001 Crusaders 34-24 Sharks
2002 Sharks 34-37 Crusaders
2003 Crusaders 23-18 Sharks
2004 Sharks 29-25 Crusaders
2005 Crusaders 77-34 Sharks
2006 Crusaders 22-20 Sharks
2007 Sharks 27-26 Crusaders
2008 Crusaders 18-10 Sharks
2009 Sharks 10-13 Crusaders
2010 Crusaders 35-6 Sharks
2011 Crusaders 44-28 Sharks * played at Twickenham, London
History in the play offs:
1998 Crusaders 36-32 Sharks
Play off results for both teams:
Crusaders
12 play offs
9 finals
7 championship
Sharks
6 play offs
3 finals
0 championships
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*Vbookie odds supplied by BWIN*