Blackadder, Lam in agreement
Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:21
Crusaders' head coach Todd Blackadder and his Blues' counterpart Pat Lam both pointed to Ryan Crotty's 56th minute try as the decisive moment in the Crusaders' 33-20 win in their match in Christchurch on Saturday.
With the Crusaders hanging on to their one-point halftime lead (16-15), the ball was kicked towards the touchline near the Blues 22m.
Wing Rudi Wulf could have kicked for touch but he ran infield and threw a long, looped pass which was pounced upon by Crusaders' inside centre Crotty, who raced away to score under the posts with no defender near.
Dan Carter added the conversion - he kicked seven out of seven - the Crusaders had taken a 23-15 lead and outside centre Robbie Fruean's try 10 minutes ensured the Crusaders kept their unbeaten home record.
"That intercept try came at a pivotal moment," Blackadder told sportal.co.nz.
"I thought that what we did that led to it also contributed - we built pressure, held the ball, then chased the kick hard and the opportunity came. We were all pretty delighted at that intercept."
Lam said the try came when the match was finely balanced.
He told sportal.co.nz: "That try was a big turning point for us. It made it really hard for us as after that we were chasing the game. The boys were confident at half-time, but some of our kicking in the second half was reckless and put us under pressure. In the end they [the Crusaders] maintained field possession and when you're playing catch-up rugby against a team like the Crusaders it's always difficult."
Crotty, speaking about his match-turning try, said he saw the 'lollipop' pass coming early.
"It was between both of the guys I was running towards and so I just decided to go for gold. You can look like a fool if you run straight past it but the ball landed right in the cradle," he told Sportal.
Blackadder was more relieved than elated at the result.
"The Blues played really well and I thought that we were lucky to be up in the first half. We were really tested, but I was pleased with the way our guys kept their composure under pressure and slowly played their way back into the game.
"What we saw tonight was a very good [Blues] 'D' side - they targeted our breakdown really well where they over-committed and we struggled to get our ball. Tactically they pinned us with a lot of up-and-unders and we made a lot of errors from them. It was a game where two good teams forced a lot of mistakes on each other."
Lam said the bye next round could not have come at a better time as he was struggling to field a backline.
Centre Benson Stanley, fullback Paul Williams, flyhalf Stephen Brett and wing Joe Rokocoko (knee) are all strugglig with injury.
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