Sensational Crusaders rewriting Super Rugby history
They’ve fielded Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Andrew Mehrtens, but the 2019 Crusaders team is the greatest in Super Rugby history.
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They’ve fielded Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Andrew Mehrtens, but the 2019 Crusaders team is the greatest in Super Rugby history.
The defending back-to-back premiers arrive in Sydney this week high on emotion and with a competition record 19 successive wins, having surpassed their own mark of 16 set in 2006.
After one of the most difficult weeks in the franchise’s history, the Crusaders will be looking for a 20th straight win to lift the spirits of their city, in mourning after last Friday’s horrific terrorist attack in Christchurch that killed 50 people.
But just how long they will be known as the Crusaders remains unclear, with talks to be held on a possible name change due to the massacre, and the link between the team’s name and the crusades from the 11th to 13th centuries between Christians and Muslims that claimed more than one million lives.
New Zealand’s sports minister Grant Robertson supported the statement by Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge to consider changing their name.
“I’m aware of the conversations that they’re now having with in particular the Muslim community in Christchurch, I think that’s appropriate, clearly this is a big issue in Canterbury,” Robertson said on Tuesday.
“The Crusaders is a well-established name and brand but I think it is a responsible action to undertake those conversations now.”
That ultimate decision will be out of the hands of the players.
All they can do is what they’ve been doing for the past two seasons; defeating all before them.
Winning 19 successive games in any competition would be considered exceptional, but considering the enormous travel demands factored into Super Rugby, involving six countries with different time zones, the Crusaders’ run is one of the greatest in modern sport.
No other franchise in Super history has won more than 14 games straight – that was the Lions in 2017, before they lost to the Crusaders in the grand final.
This Crusaders team has not lost a match in more than one year, with their last defeat coming at the hands of South Island rivals the Highlanders on March 17, 2018.
After that loss, they mounted 15 consecutive wins to take out the 2018 premiership, and have started this year with four victories in as many games before last week’s cancelled match against the Highlanders due to the tragedy.
The NSW Waratahs are tasked with ending the astonishing win streak this Saturday at the SCG, but even playing away from home is hardly a disadvantage for the juggernaut team; they’ve also got the record for most successive away wins (eight, set in round three against Queensland Reds).
And the Crusaders are also on a mission to extend their record streak over Australian teams, currently at 15 straight wins.
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