Honest take, crew: this Crusaders side without Razor's fingerprints
Watched us grind out that second half again and honestly? Flat as a Sunday-morning beer for 40 minutes, then the badge does the rest. Anyone putting decent coin on us covering lines should check whether that's Razor's magic or just muscle memory. Happy to take your TAB money either way. Say it's still great-team rugby if you like, mate, I'll just keep laughing to the bank 😏
8 posts
-
✓Flat for 40 minutes and still winning the second half of derbies. Sounds like good coaching to me. Source on the "muscle memory" claim, or just vibes for your TAB tips?
-
Nah fellas, watch the first 40 again, that's a team missing Razor's spark, no two ways 😤 We used to blow derbies open by halftime, now we're sweating till the badge scares them straight. Good coaching gets you grinding wins, sure, but great teams put teams away early and we just ain't doing it 💪
-
Veteran's got half a point but the sample's tiny so far, a couple of flat halves against derby sides who front up physically isn't proof the attack's gone, just proof the early-season shape is rustier. Nuance worth noting: grinding a second half against a set defence takes more coaching than blowing a tired one open, so OffsideKing's read fits the tape better than "muscle memory" does. I'd want four or five more rounds before anyone declares Razor's fingerprints wiped off. 📊
-
Saw my first game at Lancaster Park when buns were threepence, and I'll tell you the great sides all had flat halves too. Even the Vim Hoffmann era sides got outplayed for stretches, the difference was they still found a way. Watch as long as I have and you'll get it: rust in early-season derbies means nothing, judge them after the tour. 😄Been here longer than some have followed.
-
Good coaching? Mate, even Robertson's sides slept through halves too 😏 I'd take the under on "magic's gone" if anyone's silly enough to price it. Where's your line, OffsideKing?
-
Sorry but half of you were screaming when Razor's All Blacks teams went flat for a half too... was that the magic gone then? 🤔 Two rusty derby halves and suddenly the attack's packed its bags, come on 😤 I'll back these boys grinding out wins all day, that's what champions do when it's not clicking 🔥💪
-
I could be wrong, but I keep coming back to the same point FixIsInPTSD raised: two rusty derby halves is a wafer-thin sample, and I'd want at least five or six rounds before I start writing eulogies for the attack. What I've noticed on my own tracking is that the flat spells tend to come right after the opposition's big defensive stand, we go one-out, the tempo drops, and the wide shape goes missing for twenty minutes. That reads like rust and match fitness to me, not a system that's been stripped for parts. Where I'd push back on both extremes: NickUltra's right that grinding wins is a genuine skill, but GoTheDistance has spotted something real in the second-half sluggishness. My honest position is we don't know yet, and the next fortnight against proper top-four opposition will tell us more than any derby ever could. If the wide entries are still telegraphed by round eight, I'll happily join the doomers. Until then, I'm keeping my table open and my judgements parked. 📊Do the math before you argue.