Familiar foe to face Crusaders
Plenty of chat and no shortage of niggle is on the menu when Luke Romano returns to Christchurch on Saturday.
That’s what Crusaders hooker Codie Taylor expects from his former team-mate at Orangetheory Stadium, where Romano will run out for the Blues.
It will make for an odd sight for Crusaders fans, given the 36-year-old amassed 136 games for the red-and-blacks between 2011 and 2021, the 11th most in franchise history.
‘‘I think there will be plenty of chat, and it will be a good old ding-dong. He’s an old head, so he is pretty wise when it comes to that physicality stuff – who knows, there might be a couple of unseen things at the bottom of rucks,’’ Taylor said.
‘‘It will be a bit strange seeing him on the other side, but we know what he brings – a lot of physicality, and he’s a smart man when it comes to lineouts and all that.’’
Utilised off the bench just twice last year, Romano wasn’t offered another contract by the Crusaders, who opted to invest in young lock Zach Gallagher behind All Blacks Sam Whitelock and Scott Barrett, and Mitch Dunshea and Quinten Strange.
However, thin at lock on the back of Patrick Tuipulotu’s sabbatical, Blues coach Leon MacDonald came calling and convinced the 31-test All Black to leave his rural Canterbury lifestyle for Auckland for a season.
Macdonald is sure to mine his familiarity with the Crusaders’ lineout – one of their biggest weapons – in the leadup to Saturday’s clash, as the Blues attempt to snap a 14-match losing streak to the Crusaders, a team they have beaten only 11 times from 39 matches.
‘‘[Lineout] calls change every week, so it doesn’t really matter, that’s just the nature of professional footy, people go in and out of squads, if we get too caught up with that we will be changing everything, and we won’t be nailing the little details,’’ Taylor said.
Speaking of nailing little details, the Crusaders have taken a hard look at themselves after they conceded two late tries and coughed up a 21-10 lead against the Chiefs last weekend to lose 24-21.
Just as it looked like the Crusaders’ staunch defence was going to save the day against the Chiefs, costly penalties by Shilo Klein and Sevu Reece led to the matchwinning score after the hooter.
‘‘Straight after the game, we knew the areas we needed to be better, that last 20 minutes, to be fair, they held on to the ball incredibly well and put us under real pressure for multiple phases,’’ assistant coach Andrew Goodman said.
‘‘Some key things around our defence and how we get the ball back, and our discipline, to make sure we’re not gifting them multiple sets on attack, especially down that end of the field.’’