Romano, McCaw back to face Tahs
The Crusaders have rushed back a number of senior All Blacks for their Super Rugby crunch encounter with the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday.
All Black captain Richie McCaw tops the list of returning players – for what is a replay of last year's Final, which ended with a contentious penalty against McCaw and Bernard Foley slotting the match-winning penalty.
Owen Franks and Luke Romano will join him in the starting XV.
Coach Todd Blackadder has made five changes to the side that beat the Reds two weeks ago.
Keeping the No.1 jersey this week is prop Wyatt Crockett, who will become the most capped Crusader ever – as he plays his 152nd game and surpasses Corey Flynn's record.
There are changes in the other front row positions though.
Hookers Ben Funnell and Codie Taylor rotate again, with Funnell taking the starting spot on Saturday.
Franks start, with Joe Moody and Nepo Laulala providing prop cover from the bench.
Romano returns at lock, in place of Dominic Bird – who drops out of the matchday 23 altogether.
McCaw is back at No.7, with Matt Todd taking a place among the replacements on the bench.
The only change in the backline is at scrumhalf, with Mitchell Drummond rotating into the starting spot and Andy Ellis providing cover from the bench.
Israel Dagg will make his return from injury off the bench, having recovered from a calf strain.
Blackadder said he had to make some "tough" selections, with some players "desperately unlucky" to miss out.
"Dom [Bird] did a great job, so the pressure is really on Luke Romano now to step up and take his opportunity – because Dom certainly did."
Blackadder said they've picked the team with the Waratahs in mind.
"We just took it in the make up of the forward pack," the coach said.
"They are big men and we think with the opportunities in the last 20 minutes that we can exploit with the squad and the team that we've picked this week."
Crusaders: 15 Tom Taylor, 14 Nafi Tuitavake, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Dan Carter, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Mitchell Drummond, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jordan Taufua, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Ben Funnell, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Joe Moody, 18 Nepo Laulala, 19 Jimmy Tupou, 20 Matt Todd, 21 Andy Ellis, 22 Israel Dagg, 23 Jone Macilai.
Date: Saturday, May 23
Venue: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Kick-off: 19.40 (21.40 NZ time; 09.40 GMT)
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Michael Hogan (Australia)
TMO: Peter Marshall (Australia)
