By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The Canterbury Crusaders’ revival will be put to the test at Eden Park on Saturday when they face an Auckland Blues side desperate to shore up their Super Rugby Pacific title defence.
The Crusaders managed only four wins last year in Rob Penney’s first term in charge, a spectacular fall after claiming the 2023 title under Scott Robertson.
But the South Island team now find themselves second with a 3-1 winning record heading into the sixth round and with hope of a rapid return to the play-offs.
The Crusaders wins have all come at home, though, having failed to win an away game since beating the Chiefs for the 2023 title in Hamilton.
“It’s not the elephant in the room. We’re talking about it. Awareness is high in regards to our lack of ability to win away,” Penney said this week.
“We’ve gone close a couple of times. All you can do is prepare as well as you can and the boys will do that job in the final few hours and hopefully it doesn’t make a difference.”
Penney raised eyebrows by demoting winger Macca Springer to the bench after he became the second player to score five tries in Super Rugby with his quintet against Western Force.
Springer makes way for the return of Chay Fihaki from injury.
The Crusaders may recognise something of themselves in the Blues as Vern Cotter’s side battle through a championship hangover with a long injury list.
Ninth on the table with four losses and a solitary win over the Wellington Hurricanes, the Blues are missing playmaker Beauden Barrett with a hand problem, while captain Patrick Tuipulotu went down injured at training on Thursday.
Despite the setbacks, the Blues were gallant in one-point defeats to the ACT Brumbies and Waikato Chiefs in their last matches.
“We just haven’t had the rub of the green. We can’t catch a break. That’s the feeling inside,” said Cotter.
“But we don’t sit on it, we can’t. We have to acknowledge it and try to become better.”
The New South Wales Waratahs may feel the same way as they await the fourth-placed ACT Brumbies, having lost their last 13 matches to the Canberra team.
Waratahs coach Dan McKellar had a hand in many of those results as Brumbies boss from 2018-22.
“I spent many years in that camp, but now I’m here, and I’m driven and energised to do all I can to turn things around,” he said.
Winning three home games to start the season, the Waratahs stumbled on their first trip away, losing 35-15 to the Queensland Reds to fall back to fifth.
Another reality check may be in store against a Brumbies team bolstered by the return of Wallabies enforcer Rob Valetini.
Like the Waratahs, the third-placed Reds have a poor record to overcome when they travel to the Otago Highlanders for a Saturday afternoon clash.
The Reds have not won in Dunedin since 2013 and rarely enjoy their trips to New Zealand’s South Island.
They were thumped 43-19 by the Crusaders on their last visit two weeks ago.
The Chiefs (4-1) will hope to cement their place at the top of the table when they head north to Pukekohe on Friday to kick off the round against bottom-placed Moana Pasifika, a team they have beaten in all five previous matches.
Fijian Drua close the round with a long-haul flight to Perth where they will search for their second win of the season against Western Force on Sunday.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by David Evans)
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