Brumbies v. Crusaders - The Last Crusade

The Brumbies chances of topping the Aussie conference are on the line on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Crusaders. The equation is fairly simple for the home side – a win and the pressure goes back onto the Waratahs who play later that night to see who finishes on top or potentially dust off the passport for a trip to South Africa.

In the way are the seven time championship winning Crusaders, who won’t be in the finals for the first time since 2001 but can go a long way to derailing the Brumbies hopes of playing at home during the finals and will be looking to send their beloved sons Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, amongst others, out as winners.

The Brumbies are coming off a bonus point win over the Force last week with their forwards bagging four of the five tries scored. The rolling maul has been very effective but some critics have suggested it is too one dimensional and will take more than just rolling mauls to get over the line against the Crusaders and further into the finals.

The battle of the lineout, where most of the Brumbies rolling mauls start, is going to be a real battle in itself. The Brumbies boast the most successful lineout in the comp but the Crusaders have the most steals so this could be a major hurdle for the Brumbies to get clean ball to use their weapon effectively and Sam Whitelock and Luke Romano will do their best to disrupt.

For the Brumbies to have any chance of winning, they will need their big kickers in White and Mogg to keep them away from the Crusaders back three. Crusaders counter attack has been a hallmark of their play over the years and this year has been no different. Kicking it back to Nemani Nadolo in particular is just asking for trouble and you can’t say you weren’t warned.

Nadolo and Tom Taylor lead the Crusaders in carries and metres this season so kicking it into the crowd will be the best option to avoid any potential embarrassment or dissecting what went wrong watching the replay under the sticks.

The home side will welcome back Matt Toomua from an ankle injury and will return off the bench and his defensive efforts will be helpful later in the game where the Crusaders are at their most potent in terms of try scoring against tiring defences and something the Brumbies will be wary of after letting in two tries late in the game against the Force last week.

Key match ups

There are plenty of match ups over the park but here are some to keep an eye on:

Pocock v McCaw

It’s been nearly three years since these two faced off at provincial or International level, mainly due to the long injury lay off(s) for Pocock. Pocock has bagged two hat tricks on the back of the Brumbies rolling maul and is equal with Nadolo with seven tries. McCaw seems to be timing his run for the RWC and it will be interesting to see how each player influences the game with McCaw no doubt hoping to engage his red invisibility cloak one last time under the eye of Jaco Peyper.

Speight v Nadolo

Henry Speight has had a quiet year by his standards but showed what he’s capable of with a double over the Bulls two weeks ago. He was hampered by an ankle injury in last weeks game over the Force and his participation in the game was only confirmed late in the week. This week he’s up against fellow flying Fijian Nemani Nadolo who can be devastating if given space and a decent run up that resembles human ten pin bowling at times.

White v Ellis

With Nic White on his way to Montpellier at the end of the year, the Brumbies looked far and wide for a replacement and had Ellis in the bag until a last minute change of heart earlier in the season. White has always worn his heart on his sleeve and not one to back down. The Brumbies looked better with fast ruck ball last week and his clash with Ellis will go a long way to deciding this one. No doubt he’ll throw in a few words of ‘encouragement’ to Ellis throughout the game.

View image | gettyimages.com

Fearless Prediction

With so much on the line I think the Brumbies will be just that little bit more hungry for the win and it has been six years since the Brumbies have beaten the Crusaders via a late Stirling Mortlock conversion but if they are to be a threat for the finals they will need to win well to gain some momentum.

Brumbies in a close one, by 3.

Teams