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Johannesburg - The Crusaders will be significantly stronger when they play the DHL Stormers in the second Super Rugby semi-final of the weekend at Newlands on Saturday than they were the last time they were in Cape Town two months ago.
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In early May the Crusaders won 20-14 with a team that was without skipper Richie McCaw, lock Sam Whitelock and Brad Thorn, halfbacks Andy Ellis and Dan Carter, and then to compound everything, they lost fullback Israel Dagg and wing Sean Maitland during the first half of the match.
With McCaw confirming before his team’s departure from New Zealand that he would be playing on Saturday after an injury enforced lay-off, all of the above players with the exception of Dagg will be back in the Crusaders shirts for this eagerly anticipated knock-out match.
“It feels alright, it’s still not quite 100 percent, but it’s certainly a lot better than the last time I played,” said McCaw of the foot problem that has troubled him for the last few weeks.
“Having those couple of weeks off was the right thing to do. Training last week was pretty much symptom free, so I just need to get through the games now. I am not sure what the coach (Todd Blackadder) wants to do, but I will certainly put my name in the mix. I suppose the one thing is that I have done it before."
The chances of McCaw playing and leading the side would have been increased significantly since the match against the Sharks by the news that stand-in skipper Kieran Read, who has been in superb form and scored an important intercept try in the Nelson qualifier against the Sharks, may be doubtful. Read injured his ankle in the 36-8 victory.
Read’s possible absence would leave the Crusaders two names short of full muster, but significantly stronger than they were the last time they were at Newlands. The Stormers have gained one important player back since that game in the form of flyhalf Peter Grant – Lionel Cronje was the pivot last time – but they have lost the services of their physical No8 Duane Vermeulen.
The Stormers would have noted with some concern that most of the star Crusaders players appeared to be running back into top form during a second half in Nelson where the Sharks, perhaps understandably considering the travelling they had done, appeared to be sleepwalking.
Big Sonny Bill Williams, back from a short injury lay-off, was particularly influential in the first half turn-around that saw the Crusaders go from a 5-3 deficit into a 13-5 lead in the 10 minutes before the break.
