Blues vs Crusaders review:

This was a very scrappy game and I don’t know why because the conditions was much better than in the Rebels vs Waratahs game. The Crusaders came away with the win but it was because of the very bad decision the coach made. The Crusaders played a good game pouncing on all the mistakes by the Blues and being able to defend when they were under attack in their 22.

Blues:

They got of to the better start because of how they used the penalty advantage to make the play loose and disrupt the very well organized defensive line of the Crusaders. They were also very good in the beginning of the game in slowing down the ball of the Crusaders and even managing a turnover in their own 22. Then the second half came and the coach made a change and put Plummer at 10. I am not saying he is a bad player, but he plays like an old fashioned 10 which is very bad against the defense of the Crusaders. When he came on they played a much more structured game and that might seem good but it is not it made it easy for the defense. If you look at the game the Blues looked very dangerous until they came into the 22 of the Crusasders then they moved to playing forward runners which all began from a standing start. One of their silver linings in this game was how Stephen Perofeta and Hoskins Sotutu performed against one of the best teams in the comp. If they keep their form they will become big threats for the rest of the teams to look out for.

Crusaders:

They started of with bad defense combined with bad discipline which is why they conceded the first try. They looked very dangerous with ball in hand but was not able to continuously get clean ball. There line speed on defense was one of the reasons they kept repelling the Blues in the second half. They also played great rugby in the second half running the ball even when in the 22 of the opposition. I believe that is the reason why they were able to take the game away of the Blues. Cullen Grace was a huge part of their success disrupting the ball of the opposition at line out time and that made sure that the Blues could never just kick a penalty out and bank on the line out.

If you disagree and have a different opinion please leave a comment and I will come back to you.