After a flying start to the season, the powerful Canterbury Crusaders are giving key players a breather for their Super 14 match against tail enders the Cheetahs on Saturday. Despite making six changes, the match remains crucial for the Crusaders with pressure on the regular bench-warmers to maintain the team’s unbeaten record.
Most New Zealanders believe winning the Rugby World Cup is their destiny, but one glaring hole in their packed trophy cabinet and the taunts of George Gregan say otherwise. Instead, the All Blacks are saddled with the twin tags of being the world’s top-ranked side and top-ranked chokers.
The All Blacks and Wallabies line up in Auckland on Saturday in an all-or-nothing Tri-Nations finale, a showdown which the All Black see as a perfect dress reheasal for the Rugby World Cup. Both the Tri-Nations crown and the Bledisloe Cup — the symbol of Trans-Tasman rivalry — are on the line.
Three converted tries in the final 12 minutes carried the All Blacks to a 33-6 win over the Springboks in their Tri-Nations rugby Test in Christchurch on Saturday. The win put New Zealand level with Australia at the head of the championship and set the stage for a classic showdown when the two teams meet in Auckland next week.
The All Blacks are poised to break the world record for consecutive home-Test wins when they play France on Saturday, but a spiteful war of words is threatening to take the gloss off the performance. If, as expected, the All Blacks beat the seriously under-strength French side it will stretch their unbeaten home run to 23 Tests.
The All Blacks put their World Cup credentials on the line against a below-par French rugby side in Auckland on Saturday when the controversial reconditioning theory faces its first Test. Anything but an emphatic All Blacks victory is certain to provoke a highly vocal backlash in a country frustrated at not having won the World Cup for 20 years.
The Canterbury Crusaders, riled by a ”soft” tag, lead the Super 14 field this weekend into a high-stakes final round before the play-offs with six teams still in contention for the last four. The ”soft” jibe was fired by Waikato Chiefs skipper Jono Gibbes ahead of their crucial showdown on Friday which the fifth-placed Chiefs which they must win to keep their hopes alive.
The Canterbury Crusaders lead the Super 14 field into a weekend dominated by do-or-die local derbies that will effectively determine the true contenders for the play-offs. Five of the seven matches will have a distinct bearing on the outcome of the competition, and three involve crucial domestic clashes in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Normal order was restored in the Super 14 rugby competition over the weekend as perennial favourites Canterbury Crusaders muscled their way to the head of the table. The Crusaders took control of the logjam at the top of the championship when they beat the Otago Highlanders for their fifth consecutive bonus-point win.
The Auckland Blues have relegated three frontline All Blacks to the bench for Saturday’s heavyweight Super 14 clash with the Coastal Sharks in a surprise move as the competition intensifies. The Blues head into the weekend on 36 points, four clear of defending champions the Crusaders, with the Sharks third a further two points back.