The past four weeks have shown why the Crusaders remain a cut above the South African teams on attack and defence, writes JON CARDINELLI.

It’s been encouraging to see most of the South African players getting up for the contests against the Crusaders over the past four weeks. There was a time – and not too long ago – when the better local franchises failed to match New Zealand’s top side for intensity and gainline intent.

The Sharks defence rattled the Crusaders in Christchurch to earn a 21-21 draw. More recently, the Stormers put their bodies on the line – and showed remarkable resolve and endurance – to share the spoils with the Kiwi kings at Newlands.

REPORT: Stormers snatch late draw with Crusaders

Those are two fantastic showings in isolation. They are crucial results that indicate progress in the context of South Africa’s performances against New Zealand – at Test and Vodacom Super Rugby level – over the past three years.

Some perspective is needed, though. It was plain to see that the Lions – who lost 36-10 in Christchurch – and the Vodacom Bulls – who went down 45-13 at Loftus Versfeld – were no match for the Crusaders.

While the Sharks and Stormers drew with the Crusaders, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that they are still a step or two behind the reigning champions. Scott Robertson inferred as much when he was asked to comment on the South African teams’ performances in recent weeks.

‘The Stormers came at us with a lot of intensity,’ the Crusaders coach said after the Newlands match. ‘They took note of what the Sharks did to us [in Round 12] in terms of putting us under pressure with their defence and kicking game. Like the Sharks, they are also very good at kicking their goals.’

Then Robertson highlighted one of the weaknesses in the South African game at present.

‘They need to start scoring tries,’ he said.

It’s been a recurring theme over the past four weeks. The South African teams have struggled to threaten the Crusaders line with any telling consistency.

Skipper Sam Whitelock said that the team would never be satisfied with a draw. It’s not like the Crusaders have been unsuccessful, though. They scored bonus-point wins against the Lions and Bulls and picked up a try-scoring bonus point in the draw against the Sharks. They haven’t lost to a South African side in 2019 and have racked up 15 out of a possible 20 log points over the four games in question.

The table below shows how the Crusaders have fared against South African teams this season. Overall, they’ve outscored their South African counterparts by 18 tries to three.

CRUSADERS VS SA TEAMS IN 2019

	CRUSADERS	SA TEAMS
POINTS	121	63
TRIES	18	3
METRES	2000	962
BREAKS	52	19
TACKLES	414	563
MISSED TACKLES	61	103
TURNOVERS WON	24	36
KICKS	83	94
PENALTIES	48	33

What can be read into the other stats? The Crusaders made more than twice as many metres and linebreaks that the South African collective.

Their conversion rate was impressive in that every third clean break resulted in a try. The South African teams struggled to breach the Crusaders’ defensive wall, and it says something for the finishing standard in this country when only one in six breaks culminated in a five-pointer.

I wrote last week that the South African teams need a defensive intervention. I stand by that assertion in the sense that every side – including the Sharks and Stormers – battled to contain the Crusaders at times and the high missed-tackle count is cause for concern.

The Crusaders enjoyed plenty of success when they attacked the South Africans in the wide channels. More than half of the total running metres and clean breaks can be attributed to the outside backs.

It probably won’t come as a surprise to hear that Sevu Reece (five), George Bridge (two), Braydon Ennor (two) and David Havili (two) were responsible for 11 of the Crusaders’ 18 tries against South African teams.

South Africa’s defence was a mixed bag. While there were some impressive showings at the collisions and breakdowns – as the turnovers-forced stats confirms – one has to ask why the local teams didn’t make more of their counter-attacking opportunities.

The Crusaders are the best attacking and defensive team in the tournament. They’re also the leading kicking side in the competition. While they kicked more than a South African team on only one occasion, the accuracy of their kicks often led to further attacking opportunities and tries.

Robertson said that the Crusaders will take a few lessons from the draws to the Sharks and Stormers. One would hope that all four local coaches – and Bok coach Rassie Erasmus himself – learned from the recent fixtures against the top side in the tournament.

No South African side has beaten the Crusaders this season. As the stats above suggest, these teams have some way to go in just about every department until they can be spoken about as an equal to the reigning champs.

Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix