Analyses: Crusaders show value of good kicking game
The Crusaders showed why they are Super Rugby’s most successful team – with nine titles.
The scoreline (32-8) in their Round Seven win over the Hurricanes in Wellington tells one story.
However, it is how they arrived there that is far more telling.
The Hurricanes dominated possession, controlling the ball more than 60 percent of the time.
Despite their limited possession, the Crusaders outscored the Hurricanes by four tries to one.
Many pundits will point to their stout defence.
However, there is another far more significant factor to their dominance at the weekend – one that has been overlooked in recent years.
It is their very efficient and understated kicking game.
The Hurricanes had 154 carries for 423 metres – that is an average of under three metres per carry and resulted in just one try.
The Crusaders had 101 carries for 352 metres – three-and-a-half metres per carry.
However, the Crusaders kicked the ball out of hand a lot more than the Hurricanes, 18 percent of the time.
The key to their success was their kick-chase game, with their first two tries coming after the boot was used to beat the rushing Hurricanes defence.
In the 15th minute, a kick from first-phase play saw Will Jordan timing his chase to perfection to collect a fumbled ball for the opening try.
Less than 10 minutes later David Havili had the Crusaders’ second score. Another good kick forced a mistake from Chase Tiatia and Havili collected to score untouched in the corner.
At 14-3 the writing was on the wall.
Not many teams come back from that against the Crusaders.
Yes, Ngani Laumape scored on the half-hour mark to pull it back to 8-14, but a Richie Mo’unga penalty made it 32-8 at the break.
That was followed by further tries to David Havili and Braydon Ennor in the second half, as the increasing desperate Hurricanes made countless errors.
The key was in that first half-an-hour, when the game was tight.
The Crusaders played a tactically more astute game and used the boot to great effect, while the Hurricanes appeared to be obsessed with running the ball and failed to execute.
By Jan de Koning
@king365ed
@rugby365com
