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Scott Barrett

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

Rugby News, Top 3 players from the Brumbies v Crusaders Game in Week 13 of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific

by Sports Benches May 13, 2022

We have to say that Scott Barrett made his Crusaders a lot easier to execute tonight on the second row. He can unpack everything from attack to defense where he runs back and forth, as well as smash his way through the Brumbies defensive half. It just goes to show that Scott knows where to hold the opposition areas accountable before he sends the message over to his team-mates & help them back up, so they can find that TRY line & grab these five-pointers every time through the gate. And his contribution tonight exactly shows why he’s not an easy player to face against any opposing team, when the Brumbies just couldn’t find a way to escape past the men from Canterbury.

Another Crusaders standout player tonight at GIO Stadium in Canberra is Bryn Hall, who plays the No.9 scrum-half position. He struck a brilliant balance between communication and designing the attack, so Hall can make the best of his physicality in two ways; bring his Numbers in to finish off the work for him or help him know where to plant that TRY line. It’s a two-way street where his Crusaders team were just simply firing on all cylinders, with Hall worked really hard for the majority before he deserved an early mark by the time the Saders were well safe towards winning in the 66th minute.

And Irae Simone played really well at inside centre for the Brumbies in the No.12 jersey with two tries tonight. He’s proven to be a dangerous figure against the Crusaders defense where Simone is a very good communicatior, especially when he reaches out for help from scrum-half Nic White, before he unleashes his finishing touches with the pace that earned the Brumbies valuable five-pointers. And Simone continued to flex his attacking prowess by covering up his support runners that helped the Brumbies make up lost time later in the 2nd half. But it just wasn’t his night when the team’s poor first 40 left them little time to upsurp the Crusaders, despite the early lead.

May 13, 2022 0 comment

Rugby

Rugby News Australia, Crusaders held off comfortably in the best of Trans-Tasman Super Rugby teams clash against Brumbies at GIO Stadium

by Sports Benches May 13, 2022

It’s the best of the best Super Rugby teams across both countries match-up between the Crusaders & Brumbies here at GIO Stadium in Canberra. Brumbies may have opened the account early but the Crusaders held them comfortably throughout the first half, 5-23. Now the home side’s strength with the fire offs helped them rebound later on, but the Brumbies just left it too late as the Crusaders continued to stay ahead with the win at 26-37.

Brumbies fired off well with the early lead but then they struggled to stay ahead, when the failure to clear out via the kicking threw so much pressure to their defensive half. Although, they began to bounce back later with three tries scored in the 2nd half. However, they were well behind by that stage while the Crusaders extend their winning margin before it’s too late. It would’ve been a super close contest if Noah Lolesio and Rob Valetini weren’t injured, where the Brumbies functioned at times without them. But unfortunately, their winning run came to an end as they will need to focus on their weaknesses, before preparing for next week’s round v Blues from Auckland on Saturday night at home.

And Crusaders are outstanding as always where they just completed their three-week Australian tour on a high note v the current top-ranked Australian Super Rugby team here. They’re good at bouncing back, as well as spotting the Brumbies’ lack of kicking clearance in the first half. They took their time wisely with the ball before they simply run the Brumbies defensive blocks ragged with a mix of pace & gaps spotted down low that led to a comfortable half-time lead, followed by an easy 2nd-half spell with the win. They’re now set for a fantastic end to the regular campaign at home in Christchurch with the Drua next Friday and the Reds in two weeks time; they’re also relying on the other results that will go their way as well before Playoffs time.

May 13, 2022 0 comment