Ralph’s centre of attention
9 Feb 2006
The champion Crusaders have picked Caleb Ralph at centre for their Vodacom Super 14 opener against the Highlanders in Christchurch on Saturday.
Ralph has played most of his recent rugby on the left wing in the Super 12 although he shifted back to centre in the midfield for Canterbury during parts of last year’s NPC.
Scott Hamilton has gained the No 11 jersey and the shuffle means All Blacks centre hopeful Casey Laulala is relegated to the subs bench.
Meanwhile, the Highlanders look to have the pace they have been missing in recent times by naming flying wings Roy Kinikinilau and Vilimoni Delasau in their starting XV.
With former All Black loosie Andrew Blowers sidelined with a head injury, Filipo Levi gets the job at No 8 and his presence there will increase the line-out options for the Highlanders who have James Ryan and Tom Donnelly as their locks.
Crusaders:
15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Caleb Ralph, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Scott Hamilton, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Kevin Senio, 8 Mose Tuiali’i, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Reuben Thorne, 5 Ross Filipo, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Greg Somerville.
Subs: 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Kevin O’Neill, 19 Johnny Leo’o, 20 Andrew Ellis, 21 Cameron McIntyre, 22 Casey Laulala.
Highlanders:
15 Ben Blair, 14 Vilimoni Delasau, 13 Neil Brew, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Roy Kinikinilau, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Filipo Levi, 7 Josh Blackie, 6 Craig Newby, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tom Donnelly, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver (c), 1 Clarke Dermody.
Subs: 16 Jason Macdonald, 17 Nick White, 18 Hoani MacDonald, 19Hale T Pole, 20 Chris Smylie, 21 Callum Bruce, 22 Richard Kahui.
18 Comments
9 Feb 2006, 09:25 am
What the **** is a Hale T Pole? Sounds like a piece of camping equipment…
9 Feb 2006, 09:44 am
Hamilton and Ralph are two of the best players in the Super 14
9 Feb 2006, 09:52 am
No way. Jorrie and Gus are the best.
9 Feb 2006, 09:57 am
Jimmy Cowan is Justin Marshall’s look alike and has the same playing style.
9 Feb 2006, 09:58 am
Gus would make my world XV.
15. Girvan Dempsey
14. Hamilton
13. Ralph
12. Gus Theron
11. Lenny Beckett
10. Koen
9. Gormasall
8. Worsely
7. Croft
6. Thorne
5. Davids
4. Blackadder
3. Baxter
2. Flynn
1. Dunning
9 Feb 2006, 10:11 am
what? no place for jorrie in your team, brumby?
good to see QD cracks the nod tho
9 Feb 2006, 10:19 am
Jorrie is the coach
9 Feb 2006, 10:25 am
Ralph is way overrated – allways looks look because of great players inside him
9 Feb 2006, 10:39 am
is Ralph a ***?
9 Feb 2006, 11:23 am
I dont rate Ralph. Is his dad on the Canterbury board? Didn’t an ex-Canterbury coach even pick him for the All Blacks once? I think it was when they had no NZ born wingers playing in the S12 – they were all PI’s not yet eligible for NZ.
9 Feb 2006, 12:04 pm
LOL @ BrumbiesIV
Wow, can you imagine that team playing together? If a double negative is a positive, these guys miht be devastating!!
9 Feb 2006, 14:57 pm
I might put Chris Rossouw in at fly half ahead of Koen!
9 Feb 2006, 15:19 pm
robdylan, your first posting was outstanding – been laughing on and off about it for most of the day !!!!
9 Feb 2006, 15:45 pm
Brumby, great side but you would be in the **** for not meeting your quota
9 Feb 2006, 16:21 pm
paincity, Lenny Beckett is an Aboriginal so he counts
10 Feb 2006, 01:21 am
what happened to Beckett Brumby?
10 Feb 2006, 03:15 am
Wasn’t wanted by the Brumbies, not sure where he is playing now.
10 Feb 2006, 03:17 am
munkiboi, the Ralph is not actually from Canterbury (from Rotorua) he is an import like most of the Crusaders
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