We are through the first five rounds of Super Rugby Pacific in 2024 and we’ve seen a good mix of shocks and the expected. The Blues and Chiefs are towards the top of the ladder as we thought they would be. Apart from their round 5 stunning loss to the Force, the Reds are looking good, as we thought they might be. The Hurricanes lead the way with five wins from five which is slightly surprising, but they haven’t exactly had to run the gauntlet yet and that will be their test. The biggest surprise though isn’t really close. It’s the Crusaders. And not in a good way.
With a meek loss to the Blues in Auckland, the first win by the Blues against the Crusaders at home since 2014, the Crusaders fell to five straight losses to start the season. After the aforementioned win by the Western Force, the Crusaders are now the only winless team left and prop up the table with just 2 points, both losing bonus points. So what has caused the fall of the team that won the last five Super Rugby titles? There’s no one answer in my opinion, instead it’s been the perfect (or imperfect) storm so let’s go through some of the reasons.
Coaching change
After an uneven run-up to the 2023 World Cup, the New Zealand Rugby Union took the unprecedented step of poaching Scott Robertson from the Crusaders and lining him up for the top job at the All Blacks while Ian Foster was still in charge. It was likely the obvious choice but the timing was slightly odd and caused some curious discussions within New Zealand rugby. But it did mean the Crusaders would have plenty of time to line up a replacement.
Unfortunately, Robertson proceeded to also take the Blues (Leon MacDonald) and Hurricanes (Jason Holland) head coaches with him to the national team which meant all 3 franchises needed new men at the helm. After much searching, the Crusaders went with Rob Penney. And so far, it’s not paying off. Penney is a Canterbury man through and through after playing for the region for almost ten years throughout the 80s and 90s and coaching at the Crusaders in 2005 and for the province of Canterbury between 2006 and 2011. He had a stint coaching abroad at Munster and the Shining Arcs in Japan before taking over at the Waratahs in 2019, where he lasted 2 seasons (including the Covid season) before being sacked after an 0-5 start in 2021.
Replacing Robertson was also going to be tough but Penney appears slightly over his skis and while he has some hometown amnesty, it won’t keep forever. The ‘Saders fans have high expectations after years of winning and Penney’s team look out of their depth, unprepared and ill-discipled. Obviously it’s tough to outsiders to know the gameplans installed by coaching staffs for each game, but at times there doesn’t appear to be any cohesion or formulated plans for the Crusaders. Especially when the going gets tough which was where Scott Robertson’s teams tended to thrive. But he hasn’t been helped by the players installed around him…
Recruitment
Kiwi franchises don’t tend to go looking outside for help on the playing front. They usually rely on their own development programmes and nobody does it better than the Crusaders. It’s a big part of why they’ve been so successful. However, over the past few years, the ins haven’t quite kept up with the outs. The big loss heading into this season was losing talismanic 10 Richie Mo’unga to Japan. Or maybe it was seeing the legend Sam Whitelock, who moved to France, head out the door. It didn’t help that experienced heads like Oli Jager, Sione Havili Talitui and Jack Goodhue also moved on.
They may well have brought players in, both through their internal system and from outside, but it’s tough to replace so much talent and depth in one go. Over recent seasons, they haven’t brought in the required depth to deal with a situation like this. In the backs, only Macca Springer have entered the first team over the last few seasons and become close to a regular. They’ve been mightily stung by injuries (which will come back later) but all that has actually done is expose the fact that the squad was on a shoestring. Some of the players who have come in are either not up to filling the boots of those who left or are too long in the tooth to have the impact needed. Levi Aumua was the big add to bolster the centre stocks, but he’s looked well off the pace and would probably benefit from a week or two off. Leigh Halfpenny came in to add to the back three depth and he won’t play this season due to an injury suffered in pre-season.
There’s plenty of young talent in the squad, and more than a couple of those promising youngsters might well become future All Blacks. But for now, they aren’t quite ready. Jamie Hannah is an impressive force in the second row, but he’s no Sam Whitelock, not yet anyway. They were forced to turn to youth at fly-half over the opening rounds and that didn’t work and they’ve turned to a journeyman instead. The future continues to be bright with their under-20s leading the way in that age grade tournament, but that isn’t translating into success this season. The Crusaders have become a team with a lot of youngsters and a lot of aging players, and very few in the prime of the career. And those that are in that category are mostly on the physio table…
Injuries
It’s a fact of all sport, at all levels, that injuries happen. At professional rugby, they definitely happen. All teams are affected, but not always to the same degree. The teams that usually win titles and championships usually either have the best injury luck or have built up the depth to sustain injury blows. Unfortunately for the 2024 Crusaders, they have neither.
Look at the current roster and name the stand-out players who could get into almost any Super Rugby squad. Scott Barrett, Will Jordan, Ethan Blackadder, Tamaiti Williams, Fergus Burke. That’s a pretty impressive list of stars. And they are all injured, some won’t play this season and some have already missed considerable time. Add in that new recruit Leigh Halfpenny (somewhat past his best but a steadying head at least) is also on the long-term injury list and it’s pretty devastating. It’s worth mentioning that Codie Taylor, hooker supreme for the Crusaders and the All Blacks, is off on a non-playing sabbatical so while not technically injured, he’s not available for most of the season. Almost no squad could overcome those injury and availability issues but when you factor in the lack of depth (due to poor recruitment and prior planning) and a new coaching staff, you’ve got a recipe for disaster. What could make it worse?
The fixture list
Here’s how it gets worse. In your opening 5 games, face off against the Chiefs (desperate to avenge the loss in last seasons final), the Drua in Fiji (a notoriously difficult place to play), the Hurricanes (who lead the competition) and the Blues (potentially your biggest rivals). Sure they also played the Waratahs in Melbourne during “Super Round” but the Tahs were unbelievable that day and got their fair share of breaks. Of the games they would have had marked as the toughest, they’ve had to face them all already. It’s been a rough start to the season for the Crusaders and doesn’t get much easier with their second game against the Chiefs up in round 6 before a much-needed bye week in round 7.
When we add in the fact that almost every side in the competition would love nothing more than to beat the big bad bullies of Super Rugby, we end up in the place that everything that could go wrong for the Crusaders has and so we find them in this position. It doesn’t mean it will stay this way. Some of the injured players will return throughout the season. The fixture list looks kinder through April and May. The youngsters in the team might be getting trialled by fire, but if they have what it takes to play in the cauldron of Canterbury, they’ll come out the other side better. I’m not sure Rob Penney is the man to lead them into the future, but he’s there now so best to embrace it and kick on. The season is almost certainly gone (the ridiculous Super Rugby play-off might still allow them to qualify but they aren’t good enough to seriously compete) so you might as well give the young boys their chance. I’ve seen enough Willi Heinz and Riley Hohepa to know they ain’t the future. Sure it’s tough for the likes of Noah Hatham and Taha Kemara but they’ll sink or swim. And knowing the pride and fortitude in the Canterbury region, I expect we’ll see them, and the rest of the team, thrive. So best to take this season on the chin and start getting one up on the other teams for 2025.
Sean black - Freelance writer 