THE Canterbury Crusaders on Thursday named the side that will defend their Super 12 title at this weekend’s final against the ACT Brumbies at Canberra’s Bruce Stadium. Scrumhalf Justin Marshall remains sidelined by a calf injury and he will again be replaced by newcomer Ben Hurst, who made a fine Super 12 debut during last weekend’s semi-final against the Highlanders. The magic boot of Andrew Mehrtens will be back in the side. Mehrtens missed the Crusaders’ match against the ACT Brumbies a fortnight ago which saw the Super 12 champions go down to the Brumbies 17-12. The match on Saturday will be the first Super 12 final to be played outside New Zealand.
Crusaders team:
15-Leon MacDonald, 14-Marika Vunibaka, 13-Mark Robinson, 12-Caleb Ralph, 11-Daryl Gibson, 10-Andrew Mehrtens, 9-Ben Hurst, 8-Rob Cribb, 7-Scott Robertson, 6-Norm Maxwell, 5-Todd Blackadder (captain), 4-Reuben Thorne, 3-Greg Somerville, 2-Mark Hammett, 1-Greg Feek. Reserves: Aaron Mauger, Mark Mayerhofler, Aaron Flynn, Dallas Seymour, Chris Jack, Con Barrell, Slade McFarland.