Scott Robertson is demanding his team adjusts to stricter implementation of the offside rule in their season-opener against the Highlanders.
Should they fail to do, the fourth-year Crusaders head coach knows referee Ben O’Keeffe will blast them off the Forsyth Barr Stadium turf in Dunedin on Friday night.
Whistle blowers have been instructed to take a hard stance on offside play in Super Rugby Aotearoa, and not just at the start of the season.
Players must show they are “clearly onside” to avoid being pinged, something the Crusaders found out the hard way during their game-of-three-halves hit out against the Chiefs and Blues in Cambridge last weekend.
Referee Paul Williams must have been out of breath by the end of it, blowing a mountain of penalties against them – not all for offside. Three players were also yellow carded.
“A lot was going on. The refs do go extremely hard in pre-season in that area, and we needed to be better in a couple of those moments. You’ve got to be clearly onside, otherwise you’re offside,” Robertson said.
“The boys were keen, they jumped the gun a couple of times, they just wanted to get up and get physical. We’ve got to be disciplined around that, first and foremost. But it’s better a week early than a week late.”
O’Keeffe has been known to heavily penalise the Crusaders in the past, and the reigning champions have had blocks of games where they’ve been disproportionally on the wrong side of the whistle.
But, as was the case last year, they’ve also shown they can adjust.
Second-year midfielder Dallas McLeod, entrusted to start alongside centre Jack Goodhue on Friday, believes it’s an easy fix.
“We were talking about it this week, it’s an easy fix for us, the referees want us to be clearly onside, so we’ll just take that extra half metre, metre, so we can be onside, and we can still bring our line-speed from that.
“That will be our focus this game.”
Second-year midfielder Dallas McLeod, entrusted to start alongside centre Jack Goodhue on Friday, believes it’s an easy fix.
“We were talking about it this week, it’s an easy fix for us, the referees want us to be clearly onside, so we’ll just take that extra half metre, metre, so we can be onside, and we can still bring our line-speed from that.
“That will be our focus this game.”
“There has been [a lot of messaging] actually. Obviously, we went to school together, so it’s going to be weird. Haven’t really played against him much. It’s going to be good fun going up against him,” McLeod said.
“It’s going to be quick. The ball will be moved around quite a lot, it’s going to be dry, obviously, so I think we’re [midfield] going to be pretty key, a key part of us building that connection early and just driving it around, especially on defence. They’ve got a lot of good ball runners in their back line, so our connections are going to be crucial.”
Crusaders hooker and co-captain Codie Taylor, while aware of the Highlander’s ever-improving ability to launch dangerous driving mauls, reiterated just how potent the hosts can be with ball in hand.
Never mind the fact the Crusaders have won nine of the last 10 completed games between the teams, 28 of the 40 matches in history, and the last five.
“We’ve talked about it already, about what we’re going down to, we’re going down to Forsyth, under the roof, huge atmosphere with O-Week. They will be wanting to put a stamp in the ground.
“Personally, I feel like the ‘Landers are probably one of the most dangerous teams, if not [the most], because the likes of Tony Brown in there. There are always a few surprises when you play them.”
Crusaders v Highlanders
Where: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
When: Friday, 7.05pm
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe
TAB odds: Crusaders $1.40 Highlanders $2.80
Crusaders: Will Jordan, Sevu Reece, Jack Goodhue, Dallas McLeod, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Richie Mo’unga, Bryn Hall, Cullen Grace, Tom Christie, Ethan Blackadder, Samuel Whitelock, Scott Barrett (c), Michael Alaalatoa, Codie Taylor, Joe Moody. Reserves: Brodie McAlister, George Bower, Fletcher Newell, Quinten Strange, Sione Havili Talitui, Mitchell Drummond, Fergus Burke, Chay Fihaki.
Highlanders: Solomon Alaimalo, Connor Garden-Bachop, Ngantungane Punivai, Sio Tomkinson, Jona Nareki, Mitch Hunt, Aaron Smith (cc), Marino Mikaele-Tu’u, Billy Harmon, Shannon Frizell, Jack Regan, Josh Dickson, Siate Tokolahi, Ash Dixon (cc), Daniel Lienert-Brown. Reserves: Liam Coltman, Josh Hohneck, Jeff Thwaites, Bryn Evans, Liam Squire, Folau Fakatava, Josh Ioane, Hugh Renton.
