No, not total doom and gloom. Deep down I guess I knew that it would be a bloody miricle if we could win against the champions down at your place. I was more concerned about seeing a good first up effort from the Canes than the win, which, as I said, was a pretty long shot.
The scrum was alarming, but I guess it just confirms that it was boys against men in the tight 5. Still, I'm hopeful that it will improve throughout the course of the season.
Backs were OK, Flutey looked like he was on caffine pills throughout the whole time he was on and looked as if he'd send a runner through a gap at any time. Whilst he got nailed a few times it's good to see that at least they seem to want to play to their strengths in the outside backs and midfield. Holwell is solid but maybe too conservative at times with his running of the backline. Umaga was magnificent again on both attack and defense. Hurricanes runners broke through the Crusaders midfield line quite regularly, although I suspect poor defence was as big a reason for this as good attack.
The other big concern for me apart from scrums was the ease of which the Crusaders could break the advantage line. If it weren't for all those knock-ons and penalties you gave away the score could have been much worse.
Discipline was better than in the past. Long may it continue.
So in summary, pretty happy with the effort that the Canes put in although defence needs shoring up, (especially out wide) and time spent during the week on scruming would be well invested.
Whilst I was sort of satisfied with a noble defeat against the Crusaders I expect a lot more against the Bulls and indeed against all the South Africans. I'm willing to give Cooper a chance to build a team, but in the meantime I still expect us to put away the Bulls pretty easily.
Always pleased to be of service SG
