Is It Time for The Crusaders to Panic?

(couldn't find a more recent photo sorry)

After 3 rounds of Super Rugby, the Crusaders find themselves 9th with 2 losses but 6 points on the ladder courtesy of 4 points from their first round bye and 2 bonus points from last night's unsuccessful encounter against the Hurricanes.

Amazingly, thanks to bonus points which could still prove vital at the end of the season, the Crusaders are actually ahead of the Hurricanes on the table.

The Franks battle up front last night was fascinating

However, it's certainly a bit short of where the Crusaders might have expected to be at this stage of the season especially with a tough tour to South Africa shortly where they will have to play the Stormers and Sharks.

On the other hand, the Crusaders have yet to play at home in Christchurch and factoring in their first round bye - which is a short straw for any team in my book - this is an average start and not as bad as it could have been.

The Crusaders definitely played far better than they did in the first game in Auckland but they still have some issues with their ball-handling skills - they dropped plenty of balls which could have let to tries just as they were finding gaps in the Hurricanes defence.

Dagg is a few gears short of where he normally would be

Their kicking game is still a bit of a concern too - Dan Carter and Israel Dagg look a bit of out of form in that regard at this stage of the season. Their inability to find touch against the rapid backs of the Blues and Hurricanes has proven costly.

As a result of these basic flaws, they gave the Hurricanes chances to get back into the game when they were more than a converted try up - something uncharacteristic of the Crusaders - and put pressure on themselves resulting in the lost lineout for Julian Savea's try and that intercept try to Leiua.

It was a cracking game of footie with both sides desperate for a win and ultimately the Hurricanes probably needed that win more than the Crusaders having already lost their first two games. Their position on the table summed it up and the Hurricanes need to keep winning to get the fickle Wellington crowd back to the stadium.

As for the Crusaders, they've been in this situation before where they've started with no wins out of the first two games and then went on to play in the final. They'll know that they've got a few games in Christchurch to come and the draw is fairly kind to them so definitely far too early to panic.

And re: whether they miss McCaw, I don't think McCaw would have made much difference especially with Kieran Read and Dan Carter equally adept and capable of making decisions on the field.

So bring on the Bulls in what should be a cracker of a game on Saturday night.