Latest news with #Crusaders
Leader Live
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Leader Live
North Wales Crusaders' Eaves has lofty league aims
With more than half of the season now completed, Crusaders are the top side in the division and they are well set to maintain their title push during the next few months. Following the 14-4 win in their top-of-the-table clash with Midlands Hurricanes earlier this month, leaders North Wales are three points with eight games left to play. Asked if North Wales could go all the way this season, Eaves told CruCast: 'We'd like to think so. Obviously, internally, we've spoken about it. 'We had a few chats in pre-season. We knew looking round in that changing room and the playing group that we've got pretty much class all over the field. 'Obviously, there's Championship experience, Super League experience and that. So, we know what we can do as a playing group and I think the only people who's going to beat us this season is going to be ourselves. 'Obviously, you've seen that in the Swinton game, we beat ourselves more than anything and I think... if there's going to be a downfall, it's going to be ourselves this year.' Eaves, who started his career off with Super League St Helens, is here for the long haul and he has signed a new two-year deal with the club. This will keep him in North Wales until the end of the 2027 season. A product of the St Helens' academy system, and with Super League appearances to his name, Eaves has also featured on loan at Whitehaven followed by moves to Newcastle and Swinton respectively, prior to linking up with Carl Forster's side this season. Having never dropped below the Championship before this season, Eaves has played a pivotal role in North Wales' rise to the top of League One so far in 2025, leading to a new two-year-deal being signed. Head coach Forster told the club's website: 'With clubs now allowed to speak to played in the final year of their contracts, it's been important for us to begin the conversations with our lads. 'Josh is an outstanding player, he may not always grab the headlines, but both on and off the field he's a vital piece of the puzzle and his ability to move us around the field is second to none. 'I'm delighted that Josh has extended his stay here by a further two years, and I'm confident that together we can achieve some great things.' There are no League One games this weekend and Crusaders are next in action at home to second-placed Workington Town on Sunday, July 6.
Belfast Telegraph
17 hours ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Assistant boss Peter Thompson on what Carrick must do amid Irish Premiership's ‘two-tier system'
Carrick Rangers' new assistant boss Peter Thompson has outlined why he left Crusaders and how he feels his club are now fighting in a two-tier Sports Direct Premiership.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
The French will be strong
All Blacks and Crusaders fullback Will Jordan insists France will be hard to beat in the three-test series, despite the French leaving plenty of top players at home. Gael Fickou will captain a 37-man France squad which includes 17 uncapped players. The three-test tour kicks off in Dunedin next weekend, with the Six Nations champions missing several frontline players. However, the French team could grow. Several players are set to be added following this weekend's Top 14 final between Toulouse and Bordeaux-Begles. Jordan, fresh off helping the Crusaders to a record 13th full Super Rugby title, told RNZ the All Blacks will be getting their house in order before worrying about who is and isn't playing for France. "First and foremost, we'll focus on ourselves and getting our processes in our game going and clicking. We'll get an idea of the French squad off the back of the Top 14 final this week, but French rugby at the moment, it's full of depth across the park. "Knowing the way the French play the game, up tempo, and when they come at you they'll be taking no backward steps. So for us it's focusing on our game, for the first test in particular." Jordan is expecting the French to play a territorial kicking game and he said that could give him some opportunities to test the tourists' defence. He's pleased conditions in Dunedin will be better than they were for the Super Rugby final in Christchurch and said the All Blacks were keen to use the ball and run the French ragged. "The final was about a two degree night in Christchurch and plenty of dew across the ground. Under the roof [in Dunedin] we'll certainly have a mindset to look to play. "We want to play a nice fast tempo and try and get our attack going. The French, they tend to have more of a long kicking game rather than contestables [sic]. So potentially for myself there may be a bit more opportunity to counter attack. "You're balancing up that pressure game of kicking versus the tempo you can play at. It's about finding the balance, but I'd say under the roof we'll lean towards wanting to go at them with our attack." Jordan said All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has produced a blueprint for a new style of play to try to break down rush defences and keep the ball alive, with winning the 2027 World Cup the ultimate goal. "I think the foundations were laid last year. looking at our numbers across the park, in terms of opportunities that we created, line breaks, carry meters, defenders beaten, although it's really good, it was probably just our finishing, our completion, errors at the wrong time that let us down," Jordan said. "It's nice to be able to have a second year in the system and guys be a bit more familiar with it, so we can hit the ground running a bit more this time."
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Scott Robertson's All Blacks focus on power for 2025 season
Robertson didn't quite go so far as to call the omitted Ethan Blackadder an 'honest plodder', but he did cast the Crusaders loose forward in a somewhat unflattering light of being all action but without the ability to convert his work-rate into meaningful contributions. Ethan Blackadder on the charge for the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport And in the same vein, David Havili was left out because it was said he doesn't offer the same ability as the other selected midfielders to smash his way forward. The 2025 All Blacks are clearly looking to build a game that is based on the raw, explosive power of ball carriers to get themselves through tackles, and for defenders to similarly hit opponents hard enough to ensure that with or without the ball, New Zealand wins the gainline battle. The thing to like about this is that it is defined. There is no ambiguity or shades of grey. Robertson is taking a position – setting his stall out and buying hard into New Zealand's abundance of power-based athletes to reshape the way the team plays. He's got a vision, and there is now a powerful sense that after a year in the job, he's going to be less inclined to play around the edges of what he inherited and imprint this team with his rugby IP. What remains uncertain is whether he came out of 2024 with an accurate take on the full complexities of test rugby. It is undoubtedly cataclysmic – an endless series of big collisions, and seemingly limitless physical carnage in congested (and even not-so congested) parts of the field. But it's all that and more, and the Super Rugby final provided a timely reminder that rugby at the highest level is strategic and set-piece orientated. It was not only the Crusaders' scrummaging that won them title number 13, but their astute tactical kicking and co-ordinated chasing. All Blacks coach Scott Robertson at the squad naming this week. Photo / Dean Purcell Weaved into the blueprint of any successful test team is a considered kicking strategy, competent game managers, clever backfield operators and ultra reliable decision-makers who know how to execute under pressure. It's layers upon layers and to have gone all in on explosive power feels like Robertson has forgotten that his constant lament last year was that the All Blacks didn't have the same calibre of game managers as some of their opposition, and that they were struggling to learn the art of using tactical nuance to close out tight contests. Robertson hasn't picked a squad devoid of tactical generals; both Beauden and Jordie Barrett come with the all-round skill-sets, experience and innate understanding of test rugby's rhythms. But for the All Blacks to have weighted their selection balance so heavily in favour of power athletes, it's hard not to wonder whether they will ultimately come to feel they left themselves under equipped to subtly manipulate opponents and indulge in a bit of strategic rather than collision warfare. It's hard to see how Robertson is going to set this team up in an 80-minute game where 23 players inevitably have a part to play, to ensure there is always enough guile, astute decision-making and depth of skill-set on the park. Specifically, it's difficult to understand the rationale for picking both Quinn Tupaea and Tawatawanawi and not Havili, which feels a little like packing two T-Shirts to go on holiday, but not taking something warm. Havili, if nothing else, feels like a point of difference and to have him in the 33 would open the prospect of using him off the bench where his kicking game, short-passing repertoire and astute reading of space would potentially change the dynamic. And why not inject his Chiefs teammate Emoni Narawa into the mix? He brings an all-court game to the No 14 jersey, and easily looks the best equipped and most like-for-like replacement for the departing Mark Tele'a. So too could George Bower have made it in to toughen the scrummaging mix without losing anything in the way of explosive power and mobility. And this is where the element of doubt sits with Robertson's overall selection – the central desire to play a high-impact game with power athletes at the core is bang on brand for the All Blacks, but why, with 33 players available, go all-in on this? Emoni Narawa shone for the Chiefs, but missed out on an All Blacks call up. Photo / Photosport This is the era of doubling down and so potentially Robertson's selections simply reflect the wider socio-political environment. Or maybe this is his analytical super power he showed with the Crusaders starting to manifest with the All Blacks. Perhaps he's picked it all a part and worked out that if bashing the defence down with Player A doesn't work, send on Player B and see if he can do it. The theorising only fills in time, however, and as always with the All Blacks, it will be results that preside as the only judge. Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand's most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
All Black Will Jordan: The French will be strong
Will Jordan. Photo: ©INPHO/Ken Sutton All Blacks fullback Will Jordan insists France will be hard to beat in the three-test series, despite the French leaving plenty of top players at home . Gael Fickou will captain a 37-man France squad which includes 17 uncapped players. The three-test tour kicks off in Dunedin next weekend, with the Six Nations champions missing several frontline players. France's Théo Attissogbe scores their first try in the opening match of the 2025 Six Nations rugby tournament against Wales. Josh Adams is the defender, 1 Feb, 2025. Photo: Inpho However, the French team could grow. Several players are set to be added following this weekend's Top 14 final between Toulouse and Bordeaux-Begles. Jordan, fresh off helping the Crusaders to a record 13th full Super Rugby title, told RNZ the All Blacks will be getting their house in order before worrying about who is and isn't playing for France. "First and foremost we'll focus on ourselves and getting our processes in our game going and clicking. We'll get an idea of the French squad off the back of the Top 14 final this week, but French rugby at the moment, it's full of depth across the park. "Knowing the way the French play the game, up tempo, and when they come at you they'll be taking no backward steps. So for us it's focusing on our game, for the first test in particular." Jordan is expecting the French to play a territorial kicking game and he said that could give him some opportunities to test the tourists' defence. Will Jordan in action. Photo: Kerry Marshall / He's pleased conditions in Dunedin will be better than they were for the Super Rugby final in Christchurch and said the All Blacks were keen to use the ball and run the French ragged. "The final was about a two degree night in Christchurch and plenty of dew across the ground. Under the roof [in Dunedin] we'll certainly have a mindset to look to play. "We want to play a nice fast tempo and try and get our attack going. The French, they tend to have more of a long kicking game rather than contestables [sic]. So potentially for myself there may be a bit more opportunity to counter attack. "You're balancing up that pressure game of kicking versus the tempo you can play at. It's about finding the balance, but I'd say under the roof we'll lean towards wanting to go at them with our attack." Jordan said All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has produced a blueprint for a new style of play to try to break down rush defences and keep the ball alive, with winning the 2027 World Cup the ultimate goal. "I think the foundations were laid last year. looking at our numbers across the park, in terms of opportunities that we created, line breaks, carry meters, defenders beaten, although it's really good, it was probably just our finishing, our completion, errors at the wrong time that let us down," Jordan said. "It's nice to be able to have a second year in the system and guys be a bit more familiar with it, so we can hit the ground running a bit more this time."
