Tag:

Crusaders

2025 Super Rugby Qualifying Final 1: Crusaders win with Reds out of the opening week for another year by 32-12

by Sports Benches June 6, 2025

Looks like the tricks he pulled off was well worth the $$$ by Crusaders 9 Noah Hotham who loves taking on individual challenges that blew everyone away while playing a crucial role with his forwards following their qualifying Final win last night & now they’re semi-finals bound.

Then you got someone clearing those decks on the second row with superior attacking and defensive ground in team captain Scott Barrett and being in sync with a group Crusaders re-built over time is paramount towards playing Finals Footy in the hope of winning trophies again.

Last but not least, tough pill to swallow going into a tough game like this and Reds can’t go any further than the 1st week Finals. But Reds is proud to have someone who used to play in Canterbury had stood out on the blindside six on its own – Joe Brial. He’s a defensive tackler, aggressive basher & all of the above; he’s got the Lions to take on soon also for Reds and gotta say, it’s perfect timing – bring it on.

All in all, Crusaders too good on what has been an A-Game performance over Queensland once again at their own stomping ground in Christchurch by 32-12.

Lots of fireworks being launched by the next group of players including experienced ones, who took a great stand for the sake of the Crusaders DNA, as coach Rob Penney will be delighted with that going into next week’s semi depending on this evening’s results.

Aside from the Reds or even any other Australian Super Rugby side that can just turn up there for an extra week of Rugby, there’s always the Brumbies you can count on who always make the semis but still short of the Grand Final over the last few years. They will have the Hurricanes to face off with later tonight in Canberra.

Will this be a dead rubber or not should the Blues defeat the Chiefs also tonight?

If Blues win, either Brumbies or Hurricanes will be the last to get out of a must-win situation, with Chiefs getting that “lucky loser” berth since they came home 1st.

Sure Australia might have been encouraged with the early season progress where no NZ team have won here over the first 10-11 weeks having gone from five teams to four after the Rebels were axed due to financial reasons.

However, then things have largely remained the same downhill since then.

That’s 1-2 things Rugby Australia will have to look in the second half of 2025.

June 6, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

2025 Super Rugby Season Round 16 Friday: Chiefs finish regular season on top v Highlanders and Crusaders close out match on time v Brumbies in Canberra

by Sports Benches May 30, 2025

Tupou Vaai’s got power on the Chiefs second row 5 with tries and exceptional ground work while Damian McKenzie at 10 unleashed his need for speed at counter-attacking plays and kicks for goal as well.

Message sent with the three qualifying final games to start next weekend.

Timoci Tavavanawai at 12: a quick thinker, shifter & finisher- not the Highlanders year in 2025 but here to make things count.

Then in Canberra, Crusaders back rowers punched above their weight v Brumbies like starting blindside 6 Ethan Blackadder who did a bit of everything in the first half, and No.8 Christian Lio-Willie pushing and pulling against all stops all game.

Unlucky to Brumbies who didn’t have much ball in the first half when their late bid wasn’t quite enough but Tom Wright from the back always involved that the Crusaders wasn’t able to do on its own.

Chiefs simply unstoppable with their goal-scoring ability that sets the challenge for all over five teams to beat, having collected the regular season honours.

Highlanders, on the other hand, had some great moments that the home fans were proud of for the sake of this last-placed team – lots to look at in the off-season.

Back to Canberra as this Brumbies v Crusaders clash seeks realm like it was last year and many times before. Not saying it was the best of the Australian and New Zealand Super Rugby teams at this time when times have changed.

But still, Crusaders did enough to get over the line off the back of their strong hold forward pack & not so much from the backline, particularly when the loose ones stood out best despite hauling Ethan off.

I guess that’s to protect him who Crusaders need him most next weekend.

Brumbies wished they could have kept Crusaders under water off the back of their restarts that follows up with dominating the last 40 – just needs to work on their consistency and we might as well see the much better version this year.

Now the tables have turned to final round Saturday with three teams still in the hunt for the 6th and final spot:

Moana Pasifika
Blues
NSW Waratahs

This afternoon Tahs will be in Auckland v Blues then at 5pm AEST Moana Pasifika will look to make their first finals appearance in Wellington v Hurricanes.

It’s either Tahs win and Moana lose or Blues win and Moana lose or Moana win either way as long as it’s the win v Canes.

May 30, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

2025 Super Rugby Season, Round 15 of 16: Crusaders lucky escape at the last minute v Highlanders while Hurricanes hold off Queensland Reds in a close high-scoring thriller

by Sports Benches May 23, 2025

What a game it was to open Super Rugby Round 15 of 16 on Friday night across both sides of the Tasman including one Australian side taking part of course.

But still, Crusaders lucky to walk away unscathed v Highlanders (15-12) while Hurricanes locked out the threatening Reds in silence away from home (27-31).

Also, there was a women’s Pacific 4 International match with the Wallaroos this time hosting Canada prior to the Reds v Hurricanes curtain raiser. Unfortunately, that didn’t go too well with Canada being oh too good and the final score was 7-44.

With the Highlanders now lost 10 out of 13 in Season 2025, safe to say their chances to reach Top 6 definitely out of reach. They’ve got the Chiefs next Friday which will be extremely difficult even if an unexpected win would put the season early to bed.

Crusaders also return on top of the table as a result of their win along with the Hurricanes just leapfrogged Reds for 4th that will no doubt shift their full attention towards Finals Footy.

Now the race continues tomorrow on Super Saturday where Moana Pasifika will want to solidify their Top 6 extended chance v Chiefs and so does Waratahs but only if they can beat Western Force that could give them one last golden shot v the Blues.

Top 3 players from both Crusaders v Highlanders and Reds v Hurricanes

Just can’t get enough of the Crusaders tough No.3 tight prop Tamaiti Williams off the back of his tries and tough tackling; same with team-mate Tom Christie on the open 7 who always contributes at every turn like he did last week v Waratahs – they finished well physically like no other.

Then there’s Timoci Tavatavanawai making a huge effort on the inside Highlanders 12 where they had their own moments but shame their “kick to comes” weren’t good – oh, they were also hesitant & being a touch isolated in return.

Meanwhile in Brisbane, outside Hurricanes 13 Billy Proctor beautifully executed his ball carries so he knows they can score tries including for himself – and look out, Fehi Fineanganofo stirs up a surprise with his tricky pace and finishing on the left 11.

At last, Harry Wilson is back as the Reds first-choice 8 where he’s got the build-up base and leadership to funnel into tries especially on the expansive (2nd half) – unlucky though with missing bits and pieces being filled in by the Hurricanes.

May 23, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

2025 Super Rugby Season Week 14 of 16: Waratahs catch up late but Crusaders hold the cards with the lead from start to finish at Allianz Stadum

by Sports Benches May 16, 2025

It was a fantastic night watching Super Rugby this time on-site at Allianz Stadium although I know there’s another game that was happening at the same time next door at the SCG but that’s to do with AFL between the Sydney Swans v Carlton.

Back to Super Rugby with Crusaders ticking off as many dot point tries and full points as they can earlier on while Waratahs were blown away until they have other ideas playing catch-up after the half-time break. However, those flashes of late brilliances by Waratahs was unfortunately not enough to hunt down the clear victors from Christchurch on time by 33-48.

Bitter pill to swallow where Waratahs even without the injured Joseph should’ve been brave enough to have a few key players on from the start like Taniela Tupou on the front row and even Jack Bowen being the starting 10 over Tane Edmed. Not 100% sure if having Tupou waiting to come on was an injury management thing. Also nothing against Edmed who just reached 50 Super Rugby games but if I was Dan McKellar deciding to do things differently with selection and 1st half tactics – who knows?

Waratahs would have dominated the whole 80 instead of the 2nd half alone & now time is running against them with Top 6 getting tougher than ever when you’ve got Western Force and Auckland Blues currently standing in their way.

Finally, great to see the Saders rebound following their loss at home v the Chiefs last Saturday. Some mistakes were here and there especially in the latter stages but the good news is that their attacking placement continues to be good as ever being enjoyed by the fans. If they can stay alert by not slipping away those silly mistakes, then sure they will win the championship.

Top 3 players from Waratahs v Crusaders

If Crusaders win the Super Rugby title this year, can we have a honorary statue or portrait at that new Te Kaha stadium for Sevu Reece? The who never stops scoring tries with outstanding pace from out of nowhere as if he’s on bullet trains to rocket ships by breaking Super Rugby records.

Hello also to James O’Connor where he always makes a big difference every time off the bench – doesn’t matter he’s 10 or 15 as long as his creative output and conversion kicks continues to help them extend their lead & finish games strong.

One word of fine-tuning for the Crusaders to work on is their discipline as well as defending on restarts – all they have to do now is to spin and they will win.

Waratahs not their night tonight off the back of their improved 2nd half where some reserve players deserve better but gonna miss the brute force of Langi Gleeson smashing it against pieces of dominos & bowling pins hoping he will come back from France (Montpellier) just in time for the 2027 home World Cup.

May 16, 2025 0 comment

Other Sports Football Motorsport

A few quickfire sports items this week: Chiefs def. Crusaders once again, NSW Swifts continue to be unbeatable in Super Netball and Honda’s return to winning ways in MotoGP with Johann Zarco from Team LCR

by Sports Benches May 14, 2025

Here’s a few quickfire sports items this week: Thursday 15th May, 2025

1️⃣ Great to see the Chiefs def. Crusaders once again but if these two play in the Grand Final later on, sure it’s not over just yet. Can’t wait for Saders v Tahs tomorrow although no Joseph for a while due to jaw injury while wishing Mason Gordon the best of luck now he’s unable to play rugby.

2️⃣ Swifts still unbeatable as always but at least they’re leading the Super Netball ladder by a merry way – not so much from Giants who lost to SC Lightning.

3️⃣ It’s a Honda with that emphatic French Motorcycle GP win by Johann Zarco in the Satellite LCR Bike. Yes, Honda haven’t been at their best last 1-2 years but hoping they can be back challenging for titles again.

4️⃣ Sheffield United too good for Bristol City and Sunderland sees off late threat from Coventry – going to be a cracking Final where one will go to the big time PL.

May 14, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

2025 Super Rugby Week 10 of 16: Crusaders finds a way in the end to still hold on top spot of the ladder v Blues

by Sports Benches April 18, 2025

Scenes? What scenes? I’d say amazing scenes on what has been a current champs v seasoned past champs contest in Christchurch with the Crusaders broke the hearts of the Blues at the last minute courtesy of a successful James O’Connor penalty goal (who came on reserve back for Teha Kemara at No.10) by 25-22.

You just can’t believe how close the Blues wanted this so badly when they had a poor start to the year but then they’re no match at the moment when it comes to going up against either two of the best NZ teams including the Crusaders. All they have to do now is just stay positive when Blues go to Brisbane v Reds next Friday.

Meanwhile, what a story and remarkable signs of progress this year on the Crusaders rebuilding phase under Rob Penney even though last year wasn’t the best we thought. But hey, it’s important to have the experience ones helping these homegrown youngsters they’ve got and look they are now – they’re back in business on top of the Super Rugby ladder.

As long as they keep on winning including including two Australian games coming up soon (one involving Waratahs and looking to go there myself in Moore Park), we could be sure that the Crusaders would return winning championships once again.

Super Rugby continues with four games to finish off Round 10 tomorrow:

Fijian Drua v Waratahs, 12pm
Moana Pasifika v Brumbies, 2.35pm
Chiefs v Highlanders, 5.05pm
Western Force v Hurricanes, 7.35pm

Top players spotlight

Fletcher Newell is the man you need to know, mow and break down on the tighthead front row whenever the Crusaders need it most especially on wet weather conditions like this & sure his good performances this season will want him up front for the ABs later this year – just ask Tamaiti WillIams.

Noah Hotham making the out of the Crusaders half-back options even though he only has been playing the last few games after some time out due to an ankle injury but he likes to make things quick and his tough all-round ability reflects on that v the champs Blues.

Shoutout to James O’Connor also with that winning penalty kicking post and they’re still flying high on top of the ladder.

And Hoskins Sotutu’s performance tonight was tough as nails where the Blues so close if it wasn’t for that unlucky 1st half plus there’s hit and misses with endless push and shoves while funnelling passes out of nothing – Scott Robertson better save him now or he might as well wear the Red Rose instead.

April 18, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

Super Rugby 2025 Week 4 of 16: Crusaders making a statement on home turf following a comprehensive win over the Queensland Reds in Christchurch by 43-19

by Sports Benches March 9, 2025

Looks like it’s been another statement match that puts them 4th now from the mighty Crusaders v Queensland Reds especially at home off the back of their fast start along with a sweet full-time finish.

Great to see former Wallaby & Red James O’Connor also with some game valuable time off the bench once again – could’ve been a bit more special if it wasn’t for that David Havili lost ball by the other Reds 10 Harry MP.

They sure do need JOC the most whose off field influence has been the beneficiary so far of Rob Penney’s 2nd year in charge on the right track + JOC’s younger in-house No.10 of Taha Kemara who wasn’t bad other than a few hit and miss two-point kicks but he will get better with time just like club legend Richie Mo’unga.

They’ve got another home game next Saturday also during the afternoon v the Western Force where Force are so good on paper & no doubt Crusaders would want to make good use of their ball retention that can change everything- just have a look of last night’s game by the Waratahs also against Force.

And on Reds, not their day today having gave Crusaders a hard time as if it was an arm wrestling match, but were way out of place when it comes to the scoreboard with their first loss of the new season.

March 9, 2025 0 comment

Other Sports

Tennis x Sports Crossover at the 2025 Australian Open: Super Rugby, All Blacks & Wallabies preview along with Netball in New Zealand and Jack Doohan under pressure for only the first six races in Formula 1 at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches January 19, 2025

And last but not least, how about we give a shoutout to two Wallabies stars Harry Wilson (Queensland Reds) and Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs), who were both in attendance at Melbourne Park this weekend to cheer on Alex De Minaur.

Yet, the Demon did win after all to play in the 4th round for the 4th straight year of his AO men’s singles career.

It was also nice seeing Harry and Max lend over that Wallabies green and gold jersey to Alex and look at him go! – How good!

Rugby Union

We first have a jam-pack year of Rugby ahead of us with the 11-team Super Rugby competition set to start in a month’s time before the British and Irish Lions arrive at our own backyard during winter. Plus, there’s Club Rugby at the same, the Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup in August-September, and we finish off the year in Europe v the North’s best sides on earth.

First of all, it’s been a bitter blow not seeing Melbourne field a Rugby team anymore in the Rebels when they are a big sporting city due to financial problems. But with lots of people playing AFL (Aussie Rules) and even NRL (Rugby League), it seems there’s no room for Rugby to succeed in that place unfortunately.

Now we are down to four teams with the Western Force still around & as we all know the ACT Brumbies would love to finally play in a Grand Final. However, we would need the Tahs, Reds or even Force to be playing in the semis either way in order for the Wallabies to succeed & that includes the Brumbies. It’s never been a better time to try taking that advantage now, especially with Joseph Suaalii onboard from the Sydney Roosters (NRL) to the Waratahs.

Other than that, the NZ teams will still be dominating for the most part along with a new-look Crusaders, even though the All Blacks had their bad times last season when it comes to the Springboks and France.

Netball

If Rugby isn’t big enough for NZ, why not Netball when they also have a huge year ahead?

The Silver Ferns will be stopping by in Sydney soon to spend nine days there as part of their training camp including a Practice Match v the NSW Swifts featuring the Ferns former star shooter (for now) Grace Nweke on Sunday, February 2.

They will also have a slightly different ANZ Premiership season amongst half of the six teams having brand new coaches (Mainland Tactix, Southern Steel and Northern Stars) between May-July including Finals with a two-round home-and-away format across 10-12 weeks rather than playing three times last year.

Yes, the Ferns haven’t organised any matches lined-up yet for the second half season but we are still expected to see the Taini Jamison Trophy series back regardless of opponent. Although England have won it last year but the good news is that they will be able to defend the Constellation Cup v the Aussie Diamonds following their 3-1 series win back in late October.

And shoutout to former Silver Fern and current GWS Giants (Western Sydney) player Gina Crampton who plays at Wing Attack and was also in attendance from the stands for Alex De Minaur’s game yesterday – sure she still has plenty to offer at age 33, especially playing against the best in Super Netball.

Formula 1

What else? Rugby & Netball isn’t the only sport who mix and matches well with Tennis.

I also wish Alpine-Renault’s Jack Doohan from Formula 1 was there to see Alex also because they do look like each other with both of them having a smiley face personality. Surely, Jack can get some tips on defying those odds from Alex when there’s a bunch of reverse drivers waiting in his wings under pressure including Franco Colapinto. Alex did beat another Argentine actually yesterday too in Francisco Cerundolo; hopefully, this will cheer Jack up in a bid to keep his seat over the first six odd races of the season.

Although I can understand Jack is more aligned with Ayrna Sabalenka because she visited his team’s garage in his unexpected F1 debut last month at Abu Dhabi & Jack came back in return for Ayrna when she played a match a few weeks ago at the Brisbane International.

Post-Notes

Can’t believe there’s a whole lot of other athletes watching for fun there rather than looking to go toe-to-toe with the pro Tennis players & see who’s better?

Time will tell.

January 19, 2025 0 comment

Rugby

Thoughts on the 11-team 2025 Super Rugby Season structure with 16 rounds, two byes, no Super Round for now & one Quarter-Final lifeline out of six-team Finals

by Sports Benches September 12, 2024

The 11-team 2025 Super Rugby Season structure including its Finals system has just made its first steps today, although the full 16-round fixtures draw will be released later in the next coming days.

Here’s what we know so far

Still an uneven fixture list but the annual rugby calendar during the first-half year is already tight anyway. At it stands, one will play twice v four teams and once v six other teams, with seven home and away games plus two week-long byes.
A bit more Sunday afternoon games where we got three on offer throughout the 2025 season with the option of expanding more Sundays when it comes to future seasons.
Season to start a bit earlier like mid-February with an extra round rather than the 3rd week of February like it was over the last few years.
No Super Round where all teams get to play at the one venue during the three-day weekend – at least for now, especially when Melbourne no longer has a Professional Rugby team in the Rebels. Although they could be back in 2026 as part of the Bledisloe Cup ANZAC Day weekend via A Festival of Rugby that is expected to take place at Optus Stadium in Perth.
Finals to look a bit different for three weeks in June with six rather than eight while the bottom five can no longer take further part once the regular season is over. Three Quarter-Final winners to go to the semi-finals before one each winning semi-finalist will go on to battle in the Grand Final, with the 3rd winning Quarter-Finalist being the lucky loser as the highest ranked losing team – so a bit like what we saw with the NSW Shute Shield (Club Rugby) during the 2023 season. Yes, some fans still don’t like it and I do personally like to see just a simple four-team Finals format (just two semi-finals and Grand Final) but this is where it’s going in the way we see in other Footy codes like AFL and NRL.

All in all, good to see some changes that will spice up the competition from a format perspective. We’ll see what happens, especially going into 2026. As much as I liked Super Rugby being a Trans-Tasman and the Pasifika competition over these last few years when South Africa moved over to Europe, we’d like to see the Jaguares come back from Argentina to make up 12 teams like it was before (2022-2024) but be logistically based in Melbourne for the most part with Finals on home turf.

With the idea of having more Super Rugby on Sundays, why not begin the day on the couch when the Jaguares sometimes play at home (if they do really want to play some of their home games truly in Argentina) before finishing off the afternoon either side of the Tasman? This would also be the perfect springboard when it comes to future expansion like North America & Hawaii at some point where we could have more Sunday games here/Saturday games there, but both USA and Canada are a long way off from where we are at least in the Top 10 competitively right now.

Although I’d also like to see Andrew Forrest’s Western Force side to team up with Japan by making one super revival team of the Sunwolves together featuring max involving the best of our players and also these Japanese Internationals from the Top League, with most games in Perth and some in Japan. That would be a great replacement to cover up the lost South African quality talent & income there.

If the Western Force do wish to continue playing Rugby, it would be through the idea of a new third-tier National Club Competition or a series of exhibition matches like the Cheetahs do from Bloemfontein in South Africa while being a feeder club to the Sunwolves, as well as junior level in the Super Rugby U16 & U19 competitions – also run similarly to the one Rugby Victoria is set to operate now the Rebels are gone with some Melbourne games still a possibility by the ACT Brumbies next season.

But I guess we will wait and see between now and at least the home 2027 Rugby World Cup depending on the Wallabies performance. If not, I could see Twiggy going elsewhere to another comp – doesn’t mean the Force is going to be dead since he’s the owner. In the meantime, all we could hope for the best of Australian Rugby right now is to have at least two decent teams battling up front alongside the dominant NZers next season – even though it’s going to be a bit more difficult from here.

That way, we could finally see our usual Brumbies or any other Australian team like the Reds or Waratahs to finally play in a Grand Final in a long time when simply advancing into a Quarter-Final & then getting eliminated right on the spot isn’t good enough.

Not even getting kicked outside the last 4 isn’t a good excuse either, especially for the Brumbies when we haven’t been winning for 10 years now since the Tahs last won it v Crusaders & over 20 if you count the Bledisloe Cup & even Rugby Championship for the Wallabies.

September 12, 2024 0 comment

Rugby

2024 Super Rugby Review: New Zealand teams continues to dominate except the Crusaders at least for this year while ACT Brumbies still only the best here in Australia

by Sports Benches June 22, 2024

While we are transitioning into International mode and also at Club Rugby too going into the 2nd half of 2024 next month, let’s look back at the 2024 Super Rugby Season following the Blues A+ Grand Final performance that sealed their long-awaited drought for their 4th championship trophy for the first time since 2003 over the Chiefs at Eden Park last night.

It began with the Crusaders largely not being the same team anymore that won them multiple championships despite their late season resurgence where they were one place short of the Top 8 while the Melbourne Rebels had a rare spectacular run on the field in 8th before their poor financial health regardless of this however unfortunately ended the team’s 14 year existence. Plus, NSW Waratahs were at an all-time low once again other than the two wins v Crusaders off the back of numerous injuries in the treatment room, particularly with their front rowers. Queensland Reds also had some fresh breath of under new coach Les Kiss including the Highlanders with their big rebuilding phase over in Otago but then they were both nowhere near past the Quarter-Finals alongside the Fijian Drua off the back of another excellent home season in 7th. Time will tell if the Drua will continue to progress & go Top 6 under a new coach while looking to improve their away form next season.

The same goes with the ACT Brumbies who continues to fall short in the semis yet again as they still continue to hold the title as Australia’s No.1 Super Rugby team, although we did witness a surprise semi elimination in the top-ranked Hurricanes by the Chiefs before the Waikato-based franchise weren’t simply up to the task against the championship-winning Blues last night. Nothing much also happened to Moana Pasifika and the Western Force when they had some wins off the back of a huge off-season drive but both are still underwhelming for the majority. It remains to be seen if the Force will benefit from the Rebels demise in an 11-team competition (short term) next year that would hopefully improve Australia’s record in Super Rugby as well as Wallabies at International level, so they can look to win games again. If not, while we understand of having a national footprint when the world has changed nowadays – three teams may finally be the way to go again with Rugby Australia helping the Force out elsewhere like reviving Global Rapid Rugby & have them play against teams in South East Asia.

And finally, congratulations to the Blues on their fourth championship when they first won this competition back-to-back while Super Rugby was born under Super 12 back in 1996 followed by a 3rd one in 2003 before they finally broken the 21-year hoodoo last night on top of the short-lived Trans-Tasman crown over the Highlanders during COVID back in 2021. They too have been unstoppable who can unseat any team including the top regular-season ranked Hurricanes while setting the standard all along including the Grand Final v Chiefs, even without Beauden Barrett at least in the short term until next year due to him playing in Japan. But it’s all about having an excellent group of players who is still around day in, day out alongside an experienced head coach of Vern Cotter after lifting his first major silverware off the back of long stints in France & Scotland.

So there you go for 2024 as Season 2025 would see 16 regular season matches and two weekly byes alongside a Top 6 Finals system like it was back in 2011-15 with the Top 2 going straight into the semis with 3rd-6th placed teams to play in the first week Quarter-Finals, then the other winning two will face the best two in the Final Four before the best of the best two teams will battle it out in the hope of lifting that championship next time around in 12 months’ time. After that, depending on the four Australian teams performance, Super Rugby would ideally like to say 12 teams but would otherwise have to go with 10.

The South African teams are well and truly happy in Europe following their split back in late 2020 while Japan wants to stay on its own with the Top League, a Jaguares reunion from Argentina may still pose financial and logistical issues & having Canada and USA onboard including a Hawaii-based team is still far off competitively right now for at least the next 10 years.

June 22, 2024 0 comment