Hamilton showdown shaping as clash of styles

BY PHIL GIFFORD

OPINION: The Chiefs-Crusaders game next Friday in Hamilton again looms as a fascinating clash of styles, which, in both cases, contains the seeds of both success and failure.

Against the Reds on Friday the full range of the Chiefs' attacking set, which, after so much frustration with injury, now includes the arrow straight running and snappy passing of centre Richard Kahui, looked likely to rip the Reds to shreds.

There's really only one area the Crusaders have consistently struggled with over the years, and that's when their highly organised, committed defence is unsettled by unorthodox running, most especially when it's at genuinely high speed.

Conversely the Chiefs' weakness is that some of their players are, in the famous phrase, Tarzan on attack, but Jane on defence.

Lelia Masaga, as a prime example, is quicksilver in a footy jersey, but can slide off a tackle in much the same way as he eludes one.

At times the Chiefs muscled up in defence against the Reds, but they'll need to concentrate every second against the relentless waves of attack the Crusaders will throw at them in five days' time.

Before the Blues came to Christchurch last night Stephen Brett, bravely whistling his way past the graveyard, suggested his old mates in the Crusaders might run the likes of Brad Thorn straight at him.

Sure enough, and big credit to Brett for retaining his composure. With the likes of Jerome Kaino and Anthony Boric looking every inch the All Blacks they are, Brett's kicking kept the Blues right in the game until after halftime.

But if Brett is developing composure, Dan Carter was born with it, and that sort of icy calm spreads through the red and black ranks.

So when the Blues still found themselves behind in the second half, it took just a flash of foolishness, Joe Rokocoko calling for a suicide pass from Rudi Wulf, for Ryan Crotty to nail an intercept try.

From then it was the lethal business as usual with the Crusaders, with a brilliant try by Robbie Fruean, with the sad twist for the visitors that the man left shattered in his wake was Brett.

With the Chiefs chasing redemption, and the Crusaders, as always, chasing victory the game coming up in Hamilton shapes as a classic.

FLATLINE LUKETHE IDEA that playing in Britain will return a player to New Zealand shrewder, more skilled, and a better buy for any team here is likely to become even more of a myth if Super 14 continues to promote running, attacking play, and British footy stays as leaden as it is now.

Luke McAlister has sadly become the poster boy for a prodigal son's career flat-lining on return. To be fair to McAlister's injuries have played a big part in his struggles. But it's not just the lack of sharpness and speed, which you'd expect after rehabilitation, even his tackling technique has suffered while he's been away.

The harsh reality is that just one player so far has returned from the northern hemisphere looking better for the trip, and ironically that's Dan Carter.

Ironically because so much of his time in France was spent recovering from his Achilles tendon injury. A holiday would have been more enjoyable for him, and possibly had the same effect on raising his enthusiasm levels.

DRIVING FOR SHOW THIS IS what the arresting policeman said to Welsh forward Andy Powell (known as "Brain Dead" to his team-mates) after a tired and emotional Powell had driven a golf buggy two miles down a motorway to buy chocolate: "Don't worry, we're not arresting you for speeding."

SECRET CRUSADERS ANOTHER ATTEMPT to reveal the secret of the Crusaders' super rugby success has foundered, this time on TVNZ's Sunday.

That's no criticism of the effort made by Cameron Bennett and the production team, although deduct one point when he couldn't resist yet another underpants question for Dan Carter. (In passing who could ever blame Carter if one day he replied, "And you know what? The bulge is my bank account.")

The fact is, as Robbie Deans pointed out when he was coach, the Crusaders' operation is a jigsaw, made up of so many parts, from making a player's family feel at home to discipline to collective responsibility, the blueprint can't be condensed to a series of TV sound bites.

The one non-anodyne moment from Sunday was the brief sighting of how much Richie McCaw, usually very cautious in his public statements, hates the term "chokers" when applied to the All Blacks at the world cup.

Pop psychology suggests negative emotions never help motivation, but so many great sportspeople talk about how strongly a fear of losing drives them to win. Let's hope the "c" word will fire the All Blacks up, not weigh them down, next year.

DREAM TEAM WHO WOULD your dream team be if the television channels combined commentators for the world cup next year?

Would you bring Keith Quinn back from the funeral ads?

Do the young bulls Andrew Saville and Hamish McKay deserve a shot ahead of the cool-headed Grant Nisbett?

Is Murray Mexted first choice for comments? Should they go way left field and call Andrew Mehrtens back from France?

Should former coaches John Hart or Laurie Mains be in the mix?

And, given the big involvement of the Maori channel, how bi-lingual should the commentators be?

- © Fairfax NZ News