McCaw skippers Saders
9 May 2012
Richie McCaw will lead the Crusaders and start his first game of the season this Saturday.
After making his return from injury and featuring on the bench in the last two games, McCaw is finally ready to start. He replaces Matt Todd at openside flank and relieves Kieran Read of the captaincy.
Read has been dropped to the bench as coach Todd Blackadder looks to give the All Blacks No 8 a bit of a break. He will be replaced by Luke Whitelock.
Prop Wyatt Crockett and scrumhalf Willie Heinz have also been selected to start against the Rebels, as has fullback Tom Marshall.
Crusaders – 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Dan Carter, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Tom Taylor, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 George Whitelock, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Subs: 16 Ben Funnell, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Tom Donnelly, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Ryan Crotty, 22 Israel Dagg.
154 Comments
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9 May 2012, 07:03 am
gridiron dragon!
9 May 2012, 07:05 am
Saders are starting to look really good now… Watch out teams…
Peaking at the right time…
9 May 2012, 07:10 am
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-2:
cr@p, the Reds were all over them, at home.
9 May 2012, 07:11 am
3 posts on a mcCaw thread and not one mention that hes a cheat?
you fellas are slipping…
9 May 2012, 07:12 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-4:
Now now…not so early in the morning – oh dear afternoon for you.
Dumela Poppa…
9 May 2012, 07:14 am
@PrickBoks going South(PrickBoks going South)-3:
Oh what did the scoreboard say mate? I always thought the team that scored the most points won the match. Obviously I’m missing something here…
9 May 2012, 07:17 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-4:
Howzit Mate… Who you going for in Origin?
9 May 2012, 07:20 am
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-5: kia ora Bill… kei te pehea koe e hoa?
hehe just adding a little spice to Sirs thread
9 May 2012, 07:22 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-7: Hey mate, Im a Queensland fan…
9 May 2012, 07:24 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-9:
Yep… King Wally….the Greatest
9 May 2012, 07:26 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-10:
Would Ritchie be up there with the King? I spose so.
9 May 2012, 07:26 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-10: agreed… would like to see NSW compete better this year though, it gets stale when one team dominates like Queensland have recently..
9 May 2012, 07:28 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-11: we’ve been blessed with 7s though mate, Ritchie, M Jones, J Kronfield… and some good prospects coming through that can hopefully learn from the soon to be knighted Mccaw..
9 May 2012, 07:29 am
Shame pooper,you always said you only return serve.
Why should we state the obvious?
Te Ranged go to youtube and search “rooikat armoured car”.
As you were ladies
9 May 2012, 07:32 am
@Fern is not a stud,he is merely no19(Fern)-14:
Mummy put you on the bottle yet Frenly?
9 May 2012, 07:35 am
Yawn, the kiwi team wan king club warming up I see
9 May 2012, 07:35 am
Fern – is that the armoured car that killed the Aussie player in SA a couple of years ago?
9 May 2012, 07:36 am
whatever – looks like schools out in NZ aye sissy boy?
9 May 2012, 07:37 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-13:
Once Richie goes we might be in a bit of trouble…. his game has evolved to the point where his skill level has exceeded M jONES perhaps. Trans saying he good enough to play NFL.
9 May 2012, 07:37 am
No pooper,it may well have been a armoured car that delivers cash.
Big dif
You won’t see a Rooikat in civvy street.
9 May 2012, 07:40 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-19: yeah, but we thought that after jones and then after Kronfield, think we will continue to produce decent 7s.. lock is our main worry imo..
9 May 2012, 07:40 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-18:
Hey Bro got to go……Missus has turned up.
9 May 2012, 07:41 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-22: later bro..
9 May 2012, 07:47 am
Te Ranged you asked me what I did during National servive so I told you to search for it on youtube.
Later all,have a lekker day.
9 May 2012, 07:49 am
Isn’t he knighted yet???
9 May 2012, 07:51 am
Small wanger drove a rooikat!
Now that explains everything
9 May 2012, 07:51 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-25: no he turned it down Dawn, didnt feel it appropriate while he was still playing…
9 May 2012, 07:52 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-21: How much longer do you think Richie can go on for and do you think there is an heir to the throne, who could be half the man he was? Tough ask I know, but like you said earlier NZ has produced so many great 7′s over the years, but I don’t see any worthy challengers to Richie as of yet.
9 May 2012, 07:53 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-27:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/6149978/PM-McCaw-says-no-to-knighthood-for-now
if you want to read it Dawn…
9 May 2012, 07:55 am
One good thing
No more wild-eyed fixed-grin post match Kieran interviews
9 May 2012, 07:58 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-28: I think hes contracted for another couple of years at least (not sure exactly how long), he’ll be 32 this year, so would think he only has one or two more seasons left, barring being rested for any length of period during the season..
I like the looks of Sam Cane, and also think Matt Todd at 24 years of age is a decent prospect in Ritchies absence.. will they be as good as Ritchie? not sure, but Todd has proven he can get the job done to an appropriate level imo..
I just hope Ritchie is wiiling to hand over his cloak of invisibility when hes ready
9 May 2012, 07:59 am
I wasn’t the driver Prawn…
9 May 2012, 08:01 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-30: I really hate the half time match interviews? it adds nothing in the context of the game and you get cliche after cliche being trotted out by a player trying to catch his breath…
waste of time imo..
9 May 2012, 08:06 am
Indeed Pops
So small wanger. You were the shooter.
9 May 2012, 08:06 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-31: I sincerely hope that cloak is non transferable!!
9 May 2012, 08:08 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-35: forgive me if I wish that it is…
9 May 2012, 08:41 am
McCaw fully deserves a knighthood. The best player of his generation perhaps, or even the greatest of all time?
I’ve never watched him play but at least I’ve seen carter
9 May 2012, 08:43 am
@viewer(viewer)-37: youve never watched him play? do you mean live?
9 May 2012, 08:51 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-21:
Yes…. light in the lock dept…… Ali will be struggling to make the side….. Sam Whitelock just average at the moment….. Hoeata really a glorified blind side….Eaton playing well but question marks about his ability at that level…..Donnelly has proven himself but that was a couple of years back….Borric ..sporadic appearances because of injury…… that leaves the Waikato locks, Clark and Rettallick who could be bolters…. they will certainly be in the 35 training squad…….Maybe a Brad Thorn somewhere in the outbacks… Hansen got a lot to work out who will lock Abs
9 May 2012, 09:00 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-39: yep, tend to agree with your analysis… will be very disappointed if Williams makes the squad, has been a virtual passenger for the Blues… Retallick definitely an AB in waiting, and Clark has been a quiet assassin imo.. would not mind if both make it into the squad, and Whitelock still; deserves a starting spot, another who has played well whenever in black…
Eaton never been the same since his knee injury, Donnelly I felt was hard done by after stepping up a few years back then wasnt really given another shot at the ABs, thought his performances in black deserved it to be honest.. Boric was just starting to turn in decent performances when he got injured…
Hoeata seemed to have lost some weight when injured, if he can regain that I do like the mongrel in him..
9 May 2012, 09:09 am
@viewer(viewer)-37:
Richie’s game has gone beyond the realms of mere fetcher… he is the main link man in the Abs……first to hit the ball up from restarts…..best cover tackler in Abs…and the best Captain in World Rugby……and that was on one foot. The absence of Kaino however will make a big difference on how Ab loose trio and Richie play this year….. can not see any immediate replacement for Kaino
9 May 2012, 09:11 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-40:
Yes…..I would go with Whitelock and Donnelly with Retallick on bench
9 May 2012, 09:13 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-19: hehehe “good enough to play NFL” well he’s started the NF-type BLOCKING already, Liam Gill couldn’t get to DC cos richie “ran a good supporting line”
i even said on the Reds game thread, the guy must be clever, his instinct to win at all cost is beyond normal!
9 May 2012, 09:18 am
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-41: yep, kaino is a huge loss, more so when he goes to Japan next year..
candidates are Vito/ Thompson and maybe Messam, of the three I would most like Vito probably, his game seems to be on the rise this year… Thompson not good enough at the elite level, and Messam hasnt really had a good performance in black, has played better for the Maori tbh..
as an outside shot, perhaps Manu in at 8 and Read to 6 (his original position? )
@Te Rangatira(Te Rangatira)-42: Donnelly definitely the grafting type of lock, but I think against Ireland at least they should throw Retallick in at the deep end…
9 May 2012, 09:19 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-43: was he behind the ball carrier? didnt get to see the game, but we all know Jonker would have called the “obstruction”
9 May 2012, 09:22 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-43:
yeah saw your comment in that game… Seems Southern Hemisphere Refs taking it easy on their favourite player…. star struck perhaps or in Kaplans case, wants to be mentioned in Richies Biography as the best Ref hes played under
9 May 2012, 09:24 am
UNDER-PRESSURE Lions coach John Mitchell has lashed out at the South African Rugby Union’s handling of the Southern Kings’ entry into Super Rugby next year.
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The Kings were guaranteed a place in next year’s tournament after a unanimous vote by Saru’s general council to include them was taken in January.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union was one of the 14 unions that voted for the Kings.
But at the same meeting no solution on a mechanism for the relegation of a team to make way for the Kings was reached.
And more than halfway through this year’s tournament, it is still unclear who would drop out, and how it would happen.
The obvious solution would be to relegate the bottom team in the South African conference.
Each country, including Australia and New Zealand, is only allowed five teams in the tournament.
The Lions are last in the South African standings with 14 points after eight losses in nine matches.
“Nothing has been defined in terms of the future,” Mitchell said.
“But the Lions have been around for 120 years and it is up to Saru to stop blackmailing people and hanging a noose out there and to rather allow them to get on with things.”
He said South African rugby had created a “ridiculous situation for itself”.
Mitchell believes a good solution to fitting six franchises into five would be for the Lions and Cheetahs to merge again. Between 1998 and 2006 the Lions and the Cheetahs played as the Cats, but when the tournament expanded to 14 teams the Cheetahs and the Lions became separate entities.
“If you want to be the best team a merger with the Cheetahs is the way to go,” Mitchell said.
He said the status quo could be maintained, with the Lions developing very good young players.
“But if you want to create a team that is going to be better and you want to become a serious challenger, a merger is a decent decision.
“It depends whether you want to continue to accept mediocrity and just hang in there and be part of the competition, or if you want to win.
“If the Lions were at full strength and playing with the same team that won the Currie Cup last year, we would have been more competitive in this year’s competition, but we still don’t have the depth to maintain and sustain performances to win the title – and neither do the Cheetahs.
“If you amalgamated the best players from both franchises you would have a serious group, and with strong leadership and a good team culture, they could achieve anything.”
The Cats were an unsuccessful merger, with players based in Bloemfontein unhappy when they were forced to spend months in Johannesburg.
It’s an option that poses many operational and logistical challenges.
9 May 2012, 09:29 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-45: they showed it in slow motion & TJ & Marshall laughed and said “he is an intelligent player” hahaha meanwhile DC was ripping up the field untouched, passed to someone on the outside that got bundled out to touch. it was blatant but very sneaky
9 May 2012, 09:32 am
Hmmmm, Mitchell is clutching at straws and realises that his last hope of retaining his job is if the Cats is reformed.
9 May 2012, 09:33 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-44:
Yep, I like Manu a Dale Atkins type of no8….could be a bolter…..but Messams game has improved this year….playing a bit tighter…so would go with him at blindside with Vito on bench.
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