Crotty hailed after Crusaders big win

Crusaders and All Blacks centre Rya was praised by assistant coach Leon Macdonald following Saturday’s 20-12 win over the Hurricanes.

The key result in the New Zealand Conference helped the Crusaders to remain unbeaten this year, with Crotty putting in an excellent shift at inside centre.

The All Black was a key part of the Crusaders’ defensive pressure on Beauden and Jordie Barrett and made his presence felt at the breakdown, winning the admiration of Macdonald.

“Obviously I’m biased but I think his all-round game is the best in New Zealand in that position,” Macdonald told Radio Sport.

“This was a massive test for us because the Hurricanes are at the top of their game as well. They gave us a bit of a flogging last year in Christchurch and in the big games they’ve kept standing up and knocking teams over. This was a benchmark win for us.”

Once the Crusaders’ pack got on top and the Hurricanes found themselves shovelling passes backwards there was only going to be one outcome in Christchurch.

Macdonald admitted that the danger posed by Beauden Barrett, the World Rugby Player of the Year, had been a key part of the Crusaders’ tactical approach during the previous week in training.

“With the attacking talents they have and with Beauden Barrett at number ten, we just couldn’t give them front-foot ball,” MacDonald explained.

“The forwards were magnificent in the way they controlled the set piece and gave them poor ball nearly all night and made it a really tough night for him to play his game.

“It doesn’t matter who you are. If you’re getting poor ball and you don’t have a lot of time with the ball, it makes life difficult. The thing about Beauden Barrett is that he’s clever with pretty average ball… his kicking game was also another threat.

“We needed to make sure our position in the back field was spot on and to make sure when he was kicking he was kicking under pressure.”