With five full weeks of the season now completed, it is clear that the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific campaign is going to be a thoroughly enthralling spectacle, with plenty of intense action to marvel at and for fans both in the region and watching from afar to enjoy.
There have been many moments of individual brilliance and positive performances to take in so far, but there have also been some big surprises, and the one that has attracted a lot of attention is the poor start made by defending champions the Crusaders. With five defeats and one win from six outings following the departure of head coach Scott Robertson (who took charge of the All Blacks after the Rugby World Cup), the Christchurch-based giants currently sit second bottom following their win against the Chiefs this week (although Western Force have yet to play their sixth match) and have looked a shadow of the side that has dominated the competition in recent history.
This brief tactical analysis will take a closer look at what has been going wrong for them, as well as highlighting where they can take some comfort as they look to recover from what is officially the worst start that any side has made in the competition’s history.
Whenever things do go wrong on a rugby pitch, the instinct is always to look at the defence, with it usually the case that teams cough the ball up too easily and therefore allow their opponents to gain territory far too easily. When watching the Crusaders this season, it becomes apparent just how much this has contributed to their poor start, with them being far too open at times and playing in a very disjointed manner.
This situation from the weekend’s defeat to fierce rivals the Blues was just one example of that lack of cohesion, with hooker George Bell moving forward to close opposing fly-half Stephen Perofeta down but failing to do so and leaving his team exposed behind him as a result. The Blues now have a sizeable gap to run through which Bell should have been standing in, and the result here is that substitute Cole Forbes manages to take the ball between tighthead Fletcher Newell and lock Jamie Hannah and ends up reaching the 5m line here before he is eventually forced to the ground.
On this occasion, the Crusaders did get away with their mistake, but the way in which they allowed their opponents to play through them provided a clear demonstration of just how easy they have been to beat and why establishing stronger communication has to be high on their list of priorities if they are to keep ascending the league.
That theme of being too open has been seen in other ways too, with another general observation being their tendency to narrow up and to leave sections of the pitch available for opponents to exploit. In their second game of the season, which saw them face the Waratahs, the New South Wales side used that to their advantage, with fly-half Tane Edmed sending the ball across the pitch here and setting up Triston Reilly on the nearside wing to score a try under little pressure from the home side.
Whilst the amount of space that the Waratahs had would have led to a few questions over the Crusaders’ defensive mindset, the really concerning thing would have been the fact that there were multiple Waratahs players pointing towards the space and telling Edmed to send it in that direction, and so it was obvious what their intention was here. However, none of the Crusaders players seemed to recognise that and didn’t react early enough in a bid to get back across, with them only turning around once the ball was in flight. As a result, they were always going to have the disadvantage here and it was of no surprise that they conceded what was in the end a very simple try.
The mistakes have not only come when they have been on the defensive though, with this situation against the Hurricanes coming as they have the ball and are looking to enter their opponents’ 22m area.
However, what has tended to enter the Crusaders’ play at these stages this season is complacency, which is highlighted here by former Gloucester and England scrum-half Willi Heinz looking to pass the ball along the line (as is a key part of the Crusaders’ tactics) but not taking notice of the presence of his opposite number Cam Roigard. As a result, he doesn’t have as firm a grip on the ball as he could have done and allows the New Zealand international to dislodge it from his grasp before running the length of the pitch to score a try.
On this occasion, Heinz and his team were let off as a result of Roigard knocking the ball forwards in his attempt to win it here, meaning that play was pulled back for a Crusaders penalty, but it was still a clear warning shot in that they needed to be more aware of their surroundings at all times, and the fact that it is not the only example of them being too casual in possession shows how it is another major factor in their disappointing start to the campaign.
This is not to say that it has been all bad for the defending champions though, with it mentioned at the beginning of the scout report that there are some things from which they can draw positives as they strive to get more wins on the board.
One big plus point has been the form of winger Sevu Reece this season, with the New Zealand international unquestionably the Crusaders’ most dangerous player so far and always posing a threat whenever he gets the ball in the right areas of the pitch. Here, he has received it from the breakdown via Chay Fihaki, who had run forward from full-back to bridge the gap in the line, and has managed to secure a try as the Crusaders looked to stay in the game against the Waratahs.
The fact that Fihaki didn’t make an attempt to gather the ball here was the key reason that Reece was able to score, with the quick hands from the former sucking Waratahs full-back Max Jorgensen inside the pitch and leaving Reece with clear space to ground the ball in, and it is an example of how dangerous the Crusaders can be if everything clicks for them.
If they can continue to get Reece into positions from which he can test opposing lines in this manner, then the Crusaders will always have a chance of scoring points during matches. However, as this analysis has shown, it is only one aspect of their game and there are so many others that need to be addressed if they are to successfully turn their campaign around.