WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The fifth round of Super Rugby Pacific seems to offer little respite for the Christchurch-based Crusaders who face the Auckland-based Blues amid a form slump so pronounced even the New Zealand prime minister has commented on it.
The 11-time champions have started the season with four consecutive losses for the first in their history and the prospect of a drought-breaking win seems remote as they face the fourth-place Blues and third-place Chiefs in their next two matches.
By that stage, in a close competition in which only two teams have yet to win, it may be too late to save their season.
New Zealand’s Christchurch-born Prime Minister Chris Luxon, along with all Crusaders fans, believes the defending champions still can turn things around.
“Don’t worry, they’ll come back,” Luxon said in a radio interview. “I think four games into it or whatever we are, second bottom on the ladder but we’ve got plenty to play for.
There’s “lots more to go and the Crusaders, they win ugly or they win nice but they win so that’s what’s important.”
In any other season, that might be a reasonable expectation. Not this year. The 2024 Crusaders are not the team they once were, that could face any adversity and surmount it. They are a shadow even of the team they were last year.
The attrition the Crusaders have had since captain Scott Barrett lifted the Super Rugby Pacific trophy after a narrow win over the Chiefs in last season’s final has been extreme.
Barrett is among a number of key players sidelined with injuries: out for four weeks with a broken finger.
Other players on the injured list include the All Blacks prop Tamaiti Williams, All Blacks hooker Corey Taylor, former Wales fullback Leigh Halfpenny, All Blacks winger Will Jordan and centre Braydon Ennor, backrower Ethan Blackadder and flyhalf Rivez Reihana.
In the latest blow, former All Blacks prop Owen Franks has been banned for two weeks after the yellow card he received in last weekend’s loss to the competition-leading Hurricanes was upgraded to red.
Inevitably, scrutiny has fallen on new head coach Rob Penney, who took over when Scott Robertson took the New Zealand All Blacks’ job after leading the Crusaders to seven consecutive Super Rugby titles.
Super Rugby teams do not change coaches mid-season but Penney still faces pressure to turn the season around.
“It’s not ideal. But you don’t win the cup in the first four rounds,” Penney said. “I think we proved that we are eminently capable and very competitive. Let’s see what happens in two months’ time.”
Penney added, comparing his team with a powerful engine that is running below capacity, “we are probably an eight-cylinder motor going on six cylinders and the choke is out.”
The Crusaders will receive little sympathy from opponents who have suffered at their hands for many years. The Blues, particularly, have struggled to win against the Crusaders.
“Let’s put it this way, I’ve played them a lot of times and I’ve only won once,” Blues captain Dalton Papali’i said. “The record is 19-1.
“I don’t care if they’re 0-4 or 4-0, to get a (win) over them would mean a lot. So nothing changes with the mindset going in against the Crusaders: we want to throw everything at them.”
In Round 5, the Hurricanes will play the Melbourne Rebels, the second-place Queensland Reds will face the Western Force and the third-place Chiefs will play the Highlanders in Hamilton. The ACT Brumbies will host Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua are at home to the New South Wales Waratahs.
