@Chris-B said in SR Final: Crusaders v Jaguares:
@Crazy-Horse said in SR Final: Crusaders v Jaguares:
I think this game again showed the blue print for shutting down the ABs that Gatland and his British Lions used pretty successfully. They employed a very good rush defence and as well as doing everything in their power to disrupt turn over ball.
The Crusaders only really had one try scoring opportunity and they took it. The same can't be said of the Argies and they will be disappointed. A better team would have capitalised on their opportunities last night and that is what worries me come the World Cup. NZ teams still do not handle the rush defence coupled with having turn over ball disrupted/slowed down. It is painfully obvious.
They had another try scoring opportunity when they used the gambit of kicking for touch and then tapped and drove over the line. but the ball got planted on an Argie leg. Could have had a few more if they'd kicked penalties to touch or scrummed - but, the right decision was to collect three points and stretch the lead.
I've not seen any team yet develop a fool-proof counter to the rush defence. It seems to be a combination of accurately combining variations of short/inside passes, chip kicks and wide kicks to the wing - to stretch the defending teams' resources.
Yep forgot about the chance with the free kick, but I think my point still stands. That was a freakish chance, certainly not one created in general play.
There were times during the first half where the Crusaders were passing the ball to a static player and they were getting nowhere. Both forwards and backs were guilty of it. They had nowhere to go ball in hand. But I was impressed with the way the Crusaders changed their game plan midway through the first half. There was a break in play and you could see a million waterboys run on to the pitch and join the players in their huddle. It was pretty obvious a message was coming from the stands. After that it seemed the Crusaders were happier to play without the ball than with it.
It concerns me NZ's best team never looked settled with ball in hand. They were either static, or were rushed into handling errors or into passing to a team mate in a worse position.





