Crusaders

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Super 14 2007 Week 2

Crusaders Still the side to beat

Robbie Deans

Congratulations on a great showing against The Reds with really limited resources. If you want to watch how Rugby should be played, watch The Crusaders. I predict that not only will the All Black players come back rejuvenated, but a few new guys are going to put their hands up too. Where do you get the never ending supply of props from?

Here are my comments on 3 Point technique and Scrumming technique.

Really like the use of the 3 point stance in defending against the pick and drive. This can be improved by keeping the inside leg forward in the stance and by pushing the butt up and the weight slightly more on the toes. If you are doing it right it actually hurts the upper hamstrings as they stretch, but that is where the spring comes from

I explain it here www.box.co.za/wiki/index.php/Defensive_Stance www.box.co.za/wiki/index.php/3_Point_Stance www.box.co.za/wiki/index.php/Hitting_Position

You did this well in the first half and lost it in the second. Your players get tired and drop the stance in the second half. The result is that it let The Reds back into the game - we call that "losing your poise". You fix this with a number of gym exersises, Bent Over Rows and Overhead squats in particular. Scrum Truck will be even better

This new scrum has a very-very short hit. It is more more about angle than speed. You cannot have the 8th man dislocated out of the scrum on the hit. You cannot have the 8th man with a concave back! There is simply no time to get in and he may as well play in the backline if he is not in the scrum at the hit. Watch the tapes, those wiht the 8th man in are winning the hit. The 8th man must initiate the hit, not follow it. It takes a great deal of hip flexibility, but also try to get the front row to emphasise hitting upwards. Its difficult of such a short space, but Gridiron pkayers have been doing it for years. There has not yet been a single Super 14 penalty for this. Keep doing this until the ref penalises you.

Super 14 2006 Week 12

Crusaders reveal their weak spots.

After looking invincible for sometime now, the Crusaders have finally revealed some weakness. Philip Copeman, Defensive Coach for IronRugby.com explains how the Stormers and the Bulls can exploit these.

Unbelievable as it may seem, they are weak in the Scrum. Whereas the other NZ sides are now all playing with the Eggshell Scrum, The Crusaders are still playing with the old South African Style Props -lean-back-on-your-Locks-and-engage-with-the-upper-body. This makes them vulnerable to the half wheel or what Afrikaners like to call "a Right Shoulder".

While the SA sides have also not yet caught onto this scrumming method yet, they will find the Crusaders easier to deal with. Eddie Andrews has now convinced us that even though he is bad, he still has the edge on Niel Fullard. The Bulls have also rotated Andries Human who had great problems dealing with the Eggshell Scrum.

The ability to turn the scrum opens up the opportunity to exploit two of the Crusaders best kept secret weaknesses:

Rubin Thorne and Aaron Mauger

Rubin shows us that underneath the Kiwis have a soft nostalgic side. Robbie Deans still starts him even though he simply doesn't play as he used to. While Rubin is not a "Golliwog" on Defense, video evidence shows that he gives up valuable yards in channel one. The rest of the Crusaders are awesome here, but he is not. In this area of the game just giving up valuable yards adds huge complications. Its a bit harder to find opportunities to run at him in Second phase, but certainly attack him off first phase.

Aaron is another Jean De Villiers, great on Offense but an absolute shocker on Defense. Scott Staniforth destroyed him. He can stop nothing. Hit him mercilessly. Get Schalk Britz or Wynand Olivier against him in Open Play and we will break their line. Aaron is particularly vulnerable to Skip-pass-to-outside-centre-pass-back-inside.

You must contain the Crusaders on the outside, particularly on the Right. One gets carried away with their ball handling skills, but careful analysis of the video shows that they are in fact also right handed! Their outside left is their number one scoring point. To stop this in the Rush Defense you need a "container" at outside centre. The best person for this Job in the Stormers is Marius Joubert, not a great tackler, but he can turn the play back inside for cover defense. For the Bulls this is going to be tougher. Their best container is probably Olivier.

You have to avoid kicking at the Crusaders. They have a very strong kicking game, using Hamilton to rush up and put the receiver under immense pressure. They tend to kick the ball deep and in field and using the Hamilton pressure, they win big ground.

The Force have shown us the way - beating the Crusaders is possible.

Addition by Oranje Orakel

I think it has been a good summary on the Crusaders and their own Scrum

It was also interesting to read the interview that Philip had with Coach Deans

The proof of the Pudding will be to see how soon the Crusaders will be changing from a normal Scrum to an Eggshell and when the Eggshell will be shown to have its own brittleness- Guess a physically Sronger pack with the fastest TH will prove to be the key- but then it will supprt the teachings of Philip- rather than show up a weakness in the Eggshell

Auron Mauger was rested against the Cheetahs- and laulau- spelling had a very good game

almost the same scenario with Matfield /Vanschouwenburg for the season opener

Cheetahs would have loved to play against the Coaster matfield as Barend Pietrse have had his measure in 2 finals.