HURRICANES v CRUSADERS – preview

HURRICANES v CRUSADERS

When: Saturday April 21, 7.35pm

Where: Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Head-to-Head: Played 20, Crusaders 14, Hurricanes 4, Drawn 2

In Wellington: Played 7, Crusaders 4, Hurricanes 2, Drawn 1

Last match: Round 18, June 18, 2011: Crusaders beat Hurricanes 16-9 at Westpac Stadium, Wellington

THIS IS where things start getting very interesting for both of these sides.

Sitting sixth and seventh on the table respectively, the Hurricanes and Crusaders enter this tantalising Saturday night feature match in sizzling form after accounting for South African heavyweights the Sharks and Stormers in their most recent outings.

The ’Canes had a chance to rest up last week with the bye, while the Crusaders put on their most impressive performance of the season to topple the previously- unbeaten Stormers in Christchurch. Only time will tell which of those scenarios was the more beneficial.

The Crusaders have been the No 1 bogey team for the ’Canes in Super Rugby, winning 14 of the previous 20 fixtures between the sides (including the 2006 final and three semifinals), but with the exception of the odd blowout in the Crusaders’ favour, these tend to be close games.

Don’t expect to see as much aimless kicking from the Crusaders – or as many penalty goals for that matter – this week. The ’Canes might be amongst the most dangerous attacking teams in Super Rugby but they also have the fifth- worst defensive record. Coach Todd Blackadder will have that rather damning statistic in mind when he creates his game plan for this match.

The home side will throw caution to the wind, as always, with Beauden Barrett looking to get the backline humming by running flat onto the ball and Andre Taylor welcoming any opportunity to build up speed on the counter-attack.

Israel Dagg will be doing well just to keep up with the former on the evidence of his rather forgettable current form.

The Crusaders will back themselves in the tight exchanges, particularly the scrums, but the match could ultimately be decided by the winner of the battle between ‘fetchers’ Karl Lowe and Matt Todd. Lowe was the best player on the paddock in the last match the ’Canes played while Todd made a welcome return to form last week after a fairly slow start to the season.

Thankfully, the world’s best referee, Craig Joubert will be the man in the middle for this one.

My prediction: Crusaders 1-12

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