Heading into week 4 of the Super Rugby Aotearoa and I am still as excited as I was week one. This game is going to be right up there as one of the best. If this fixture came up in the beginning of the competition I would have said that the Crusaders would win by a land slide. At this stage the Highlanders come in as the underdogs, but they stand a chance.
The Highlanders are a bad team on paper and there isn’t a lot of super starts in their line up, but I think that’s the reason they’re able to compete with the other teams. Their team just plays for each other and never gives up. In their game against the Blues I counted them out after the first 10 minutes, but they proved me wrong and kept on playing till the end where they almost got away with an upset win.
The Crusaders are a good team and it seems like they have an abundance of young talent coming through their ranks. They’re going into this game as hot favorites and I think they’re going to come away with the win. They should however watch out for the Highlanders team and if they come in under prepared thinking it’s going to be an easy game, well they’re in for a big surprise.
Heading into week 4 of the Super Rugby Aotearoa and I am still as excited as I was for week one. This game is going to be right up there as one of the best. If this fixture came up in the beginning of the competition I would have said that the Crusaders would win by a land slide. At this stage the Highlanders comes in as underdogs but they do stand a chance.
The Highlaners are a bad team on paper and there is not a lot of super starts in their lineup, but I think that is the reason that they are able to compete with the other teams. Their team just plays for each other and never gives up. In their game against the Blues I counted them out after the first 10 min, but they proved me wrong and kept on playing till the end where they almost got away with an upset win.
The Crusaders is a good team that seems like they have an abundance of young talent coming through their ranks. They are going into this game as hot favorites and I believe that they are going to come away with the win. They should however watch out for the Highlanders team and if they come in under prepared and thinking it is going to be an easy game they will be in for a surprise.
Teams:
Highlanders
Crusaders
| Starting XV | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dan Lienert-Brown | 1 | Joe Moody |
| Liam Coltman | 2 | Codie Taylor |
| Jeff Thwaites | 3 | Michael Alaalatoa |
| Pari Pari Parkinson | 4 | Sam Whitelock |
| Josh Dickson | 5 | Mitchell Dunshea |
| Shannon Frizell | 6 | Ethan Blackadder |
| Dillon Hunt | 7 | Tom Christie |
| Marino Tu’u | 8 | Whetu Douglas |
| Aaron Smith | 9 | Mitchell Drummond |
| Mitchell Hunt | 10 | Richard Mo’unga |
| Jona Nareki | 11 | Leicester Fainga’anuku |
| Sio Tomkinson | 12 | Jack Goodhue |
| Rob Thompson | 13 | Braydon Ennor |
| Ngane Punivai | 14 | Will Jordan |
| Michael Collins | 15 | David Havili |
| Bench | ||
| Ash Dixon | 16 | Andrew Makalio |
| Ayden Johnstone | 17 | George Bower |
| Siate Tokolahi | 18 | Oliver Jager |
| Jack Whetton | 19 | Quinten Strange |
| Teariki Ben-Nicholas | 20 | Sione Havili |
| Kayne Hammington | 21 | Ereatara Enari |
| Bryn Gatland | 22 | Fetuli Paea |
| Vilimoni Koroi | 23 | Sevuloni Reece |
Rugby dissect 
Leave a comment