What is Wrong With the Crusaders?
In 2025, the Crusaders once again found themselves hoisting the Super Rugby Pacific trophy aloft. After a disastrous 2024, which saw them miss the playoffs entirely, it was quite the turnaround. Fast forward eight months, and the Crusaders look more like their 2024 versions of themselves than 2025. The Crusaders have suffered two losses to start 2026, a tight encounter against the Highlanders in Dunedin where a last-gasp Cam Millar penalty broke Cantabrian hearts, followed by a historic thrashing at the hands of the Brumbies at home in Christchurch. While it may still be early days, something seems off in Christchurch, which begs the question: What is wrong with the Crusaders?
The Crusaders have started 2026 employing a very aggressive rush defence. At times, a similar system was used last season, but not as aggressively as it has looked to start this season. The Highlanders and Brumbies countered the system in two relatively different ways. The Highlanders looked to target space on the outside of the Crusaders defensive line, and the Brumbies targeted space inside closer to the ruck. We’ll start by looking at the Highlanders game.
The Highlanders first try came straight from a lineout set move. Blackadder and Havili were defending in the midfield for the Crusaders and shot out of the line to confront the Highlanders second receiver Tavatavanawai.
Nareki’s nonchalance in sweeping across from the left wing actually buys him a bit of time, as Ennor is unsure whether he is a genuine option and does not want to fly up to cut off his options in case Tavatavanawai plays the short ball, Withy and Lowe on Tavatavanawai’s outside also hold Reihana deep and central in the backfield (so much so he cannot be seen in this image) in case they break through, meaning Reihana has a lot of ground to make up should there be a linebreak on the outside. Blackadder and Havili do enough to pressure Tavatavanawai into a bad pass as the ball hits the grass. The bounce is actually what kills the Crusaders on this play, though. Both Ennor and Fainga’anuku’s eyes light up when the ball hits the turf as they both commit to Nareki, creating a two-man overlap for Fihaki, who is defending in the back field, to deal with. Due to Havili flying out of the line originally, he cannot get across to cover, and Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens draws in Fihaki before passing to Tangitau, who then just has to beat Reihana, who is still scrambling across and barely gets a hand on Tangitau as he goes across to open the Highlanders account. The connection between the Crusaders numbered 11-14, Fainga’anuku, Havili, Ennor and Reece, was sketchy to say the least for the majority of the game, with Havili, Ennor and Fainga’anuku combining for another error leading to Angus Ta’avao’s try to start the second half. The Highlanders creativity in their backline seemed too much for the Crusaders defence to handle, as Tavatavanawai and Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens picked them apart all night. Despite this, the Crusaders came within two points and looked to have the game iced before Taylor gave away the last-minute penalty to hand the Highlanders the win. The same cannot be said for what happened a week later against the Brumbies.
Against the Brumbies, the rush defence was once again picked apart, but not on the outside this time. The Brumbies opening try showed this on back-to-back phases. The Brumbies set up a large openside by plugging the blindside a couple times, a strategy they used throughout the 80 minutes. Pritchard has a forward pod set outside him and Muirhead sweeping behind them. Instead of shovelling on to a forward to carry, Pritchard takes on Gardiner, who is the post defender outside Bell.
The Brumbies have already created a mismatch here, with their outside centre running at the Crusaders blindside flanker, but Gardiner makes a good tackle to chop down Pritchard. From here, the Crusaders defence is completely unorganised, the ruck speed from the Brumbies is actually quite slow as Gardiner smartly rolls into the line of Lonergan coming across to clear the ball. Newell, Blackadder and Hannah were the three Crusaders defenders to rush out, and all three originally relocated to the blindside as they made the effort to get back onside. Ennor and Lio-Willie call them across to number up, but due to how far out they were and originally picking the wrong side, they are too late. Newell and Blackadder both set close to the ruck and leave a gaping hole for Muirhead to inject his speed into. It’s quite frankly a lazy effort from two All Blacks, and one I’m sure neither enjoyed watching back in the film room this week.
The Brumbies second try comes from a similar setup to the Highlanders first try, but instead of forcing the ball to the outside the Brumbies once again attack space close to the ruck where defenders are not rushing up as fast or at all. This time, Lonergan sets a pod of three about three defenders wide of the ruck, with Muirhead behind. The ball goes to van Nek, who flips the ball out the back to Muirhead.
Unlike the Highlanders try, the Crusaders do enough to cut off the pass from Muirhead, with Bell getting into the passing channel, but Muirhead is never looking to pass once the ball is released to him. As soon as van Nek releases the pass, Muirhead props off his left foot and heads back towards where the ruck was. Gardiner drops out of the line to fold around the corner, anticipating that the ball will go wider. This leaves a massive gap between the two props, Newell and Williams, which Muirhead uses his pace to burst through. The Crusaders pack as a whole really struggled to deal with the mismatches the Brumbies were creating, and with their quicker forwards Blackadder and Lio-Willie often being a part of the rush or looking for turnovers at the breakdown, it left their tight five to defend against the Brumbies speedsters on multiple occasions. Newell found himself on the spot twice and was not able to deal with Muirhead’s pace at the line. With the Chiefs coming up next week, I’m sure Damian McKenzie and co will be licking their lips at the prospect of running at some isolated tight five members.
For the Crusaders rush defence to have been broken down in two different ways in two weeks is not a promising sign. Heading into round three, the Crusaders have to travel North to Hamilton to play the Chiefs. It is expected Damian McKenzie will be back onboard for the Chiefs, whether that is at first-five or fullback is uncertain, notoriously DMac has struggled against a rushing defence, but the Crusaders system looks fragile to say the least. With the venom in the Chiefs attack, things could get ugly very quickly if the Crusaders do not figure out some fixes. In two rounds, the Crusaders have conceded 75 points, the third most in the competition after the Western Force and Moana Pasifika, while their attack has looked stale and clunky at times, they have found ways to score points and be competitive, if not for their leaky defence.
The Crusaders identity as a whole seems to be a bit lost. What comes to mind when you think of Crusaders rugby? Set piece? Long phases? Discipline? Well, hardly any of that has featured for the Crusaders so far this season. The Crusaders statistically have the worst lineout in the competition, have conceded the most turnovers in the competition, along with the second most missed tackles, have conceded the third most penalties in the competition and have been given the most yellow cards. That is simply un-Crusader-like. Over the years, we have become accustomed to the well-drilled and well-oiled machine that the Crusaders are known to be, but to start 2026, this could not be further from the truth. Do I believe the Crusaders can turn it around? Yes. They had the Highlanders game until a silly mistake from Taylor, and the Brumbies game was within reach until the last ten or so minutes. But if they are to turn it around, they need to find solutions fast. It’s not getting any easier for them in the coming weeks, travelling to Hamilton and Auckland to face the Chiefs and Blues respectively, before returning home to face the Highlanders. They must find a way to win at least two of those games to keep themselves in the fight for a playoff spot, as an 0-5 start may not mathematically rule them out of finals contention, but it’d be a hell of a hill to climb, even for the mighty Crusaders.
