Saders call on stars
1 May 2006
Crusaders utility back Scott Hamilton is doubtful with a shin injury but Robbie Deans is banking on the return of several All Black stars for the match against the Bulls on Friday.
Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Leon MacDonald are expected to be back to lift the Crusaders out of their slump when they tackle the Bulls, xtramsn.co.nz reported.
It’s a daunting task and it will also be a definitive match to the Crusaders’ play-off hopes after they were tipped over 28-17 by the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend.
Coming on top of a draw to wooden-spooners the Western Force the week before, the Crusaders have given up the No 1 position on the points table and possible home advantage through the play-offs to the Waratahs.
They desperately need to bounce back against the Bulls who have a sniff of the semifinals and were in snorting form in dispatching the Sharks in a nine-try thriller.
There wasn’t much thrilling over in the Crusaders camp a couple of hours later as they contemplated the consequences of their first loss of the season.
The result was bad and it was complicated by the injury to Hamilton. He was playing at fullback as MacDonald was rested but only got through to halftime before being forced off after taking a knock to a shin.
Crusaders doctor Deb Robinson said Hamilton was unlikely to take part in training in the early part of this week’s buildup to the Bulls match. She said he would be assessed before the team was named on Wednesday.
With MacDonald sure to return to the starting order for Pretoria this weekend, the Crusaders would dearly love to have Hamilton available for the left wing where he has been so effective this year.
The plan to rest Carter and MacDonald didn’t go as well as Deans had hoped. He would have liked to have both sitting on the bench much longer but circumstances never allowed that.
MacDonald was forced on to cover the injury of Hamilton and Carter was introduced after the break to try to ignite the Crusaders over the second half.
That never happened and they were flattered by the scoreline with Rico Gear’s last gasp try meaning little in terms of the match where they failed to get even a bonus point.
8 Comments
1 May 2006, 09:50 am
DRAGONS!!! so silly yet strangely satisfying…NOT
1 May 2006, 13:42 pm
Imagine what that prick of a Tackler thinks now.
NZ finerst beaten properly in all aspects of play.
Blues and Saders murdered. Im sure the excuses will be as precious as his relationship with all the male sheep in NZ
1 May 2006, 16:42 pm
snoop, where were you on thursday? you realise i paid nearly R300 for that ticket!
1 May 2006, 16:48 pm
The Crusaders usually lost at Loftus, it wouln’t be different this time
In their last two games they looked disconnected, not the well organised team which is their trade mark.
I didn’t watch the Stormers game but I did watch Northhampton Vs. Leichester one, I focused on Pat Barnard, the Pom comentators couldn’t sing enough his praises, so let me tell you this: any team which let go a prop like Pat Barnard but retains Andrews has no hope
1 May 2006, 18:36 pm
snoop,
who cares what tackler thinks. The truth is that the saders are at 2nd on the log, and stormers way behind. I’m happy that the stormers finally delivered a good performance, but we all knew that some time along the way the stormers were gonna play one outstanding game. If you really want to laugh at tackler then wait until the stormers are ahead of the saders in the log!!!
1 May 2006, 22:57 pm
Im new on this blog, reading Tackler’s comments…pretty lame, espesially the ones about Ashwin being a quota & hasbeen without having a real reason, so i sort of miss-read his comments these days…Stormers defence was quite good against Saders, just hope they can deliver the same performance against Sharks & Bulls…both very difficult games…Sharks might look for revenge. Bulls game will be tight…
2 May 2006, 05:10 am
Snoop…finally ‘Takackler’ added his 2 cents to the thread ‘Bones take a hammering’. (Post 150 plus something)
Funny again how she focuses on how bad we are when down under….no mention of Saders and Carters 2nd useless performance at Newlands (he was on for 35 mins and no show),Highlanders falling in wet Dunedin etc etc. No mention of Sa’s last 2 dceent weekends. Quite amuzing. She must live in much pain.
2 May 2006, 06:42 am
Da Saders will rise and destroy all in it’s path. HM you have been warned.
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