The two teams on a crash course to meet (most likely for the first of three times this season) did what they needed to set up the Sunday arvo blockbuster at Eden Park. Unsurprisingly, it is the Crusaders and Blues who dominate my Team of the Week for round 3 of Super Rugby Aotearoa:
- George Bower (Crusaders) just edges an impressive Karl Tu’inukuafe (Blues) by being ever so slightly more active around the pack. The pair were very tough to separate as they were both super impressive in their core roles
- Samisoni Taukei’aho (Chiefs) battled away manfully, with and without the ball
- Ofa Tuungafasi (Blues) is hands down the best tighthead prop in NZ and played like it again on Sunday. His development in the last three to four years has been huge
- Tupou Vaai (Chiefs) put in a huge shift in a losing cause, looking every inch an international lock playing opposite to two firmly established test second row forwards
- Scott Barrett (Crusaders) was back to his best, being a pest at lineout time and generally throwing himself around the field at a great rate of knots. PS Very impressive debut at this level by the highly touted (and easy to see why) Sam Darry (Blues)
- Its immensely enjoyable watching a player who you’ve always known had the talent put it all together at a high level and with consistency. That’s what I’m sure many rugby fans will be thinking as they watch Akira Ioane (Blues) be so prominent and impactful; another outstanding display
- High work rate, high intensity, high impact – just your typical day at the office for Dalton Papali’i (Blues); he could be a huge difference maker this weekend especially with Tom Christie out for the Crusaders
- Whetukamokamo Douglas (Crusaders) came in late for Cullen Grace and just went to work. Huge ball carrying night, excellent on defence and won his lineout ball when his number was called
- You have to be at your best when playing opposite Aaron Smith and that’s exactly what Jonathan Ruru (Blues) did; the improvement in his decision making is very apparent to this observer
- It may have appeared to be a laydown mazaire for Richie Mo’unga (Crusaders) after another decisive display on Saturday night but don’t undersell the aplomb with which Otere Black (Blues) guided his team around the field on Sunday afternoon.
- The only thing that Leicester Fainga’anuku (Crusaders) didn’t do against the Chiefs was stay in bounds when diving for the corner in the tenth minute of the game … don’t at me, that foot grazed the grass! Everything else he did was outstanding by the way
- Another position in the backline; another excellent performance by David Havili (Crusaders) whose quality and versatility lends itself massively to being a perfect RWC squad member in two years time. Credit also to Harry Plummer (Blues) for his best all round game at Super Rugby level
- Rieko Ioane (Blues) is gapping the field when it comes to centre play. Yes he did shelled a couple of passes that came to him, but overall his attacking play was excellent while his defensive work was yet again quite brilliant
- He got 40 minutes due to the injury to Mark Telea and Emoni Narawa (Blues) packed a fair bit of good rugby into that half of footy; a nice confidence booster ahead of what youd suspect will be a huge opportunity starting this weekend
- Tough choice this – Will Jordan (Crusaders) was top drawer while Damian McKenzie (Chiefs) did a whole lot with the few opportunities that came his way … Jordan with the bigger moments gets the nod