It was great to a get a win under our belts against the Highlanders at AMI Stadium in the first match of 2010 and it was thrilling to play in front of such a big crowd.
The quality of rugby was fantastic considering it was round one and to pick up a four-try bonus point was also very pleasing. To see the crowd on the pitch afterwards was great too but more about that later.
Now we face the Reds in Brisbane on Friday night.
We played them in our first pre-season game late last month so know a little about what to expect. We came out on the wrong side of the ledger in that match but both sides scored two tries each and we learned a fair bit from it.
I remember playing the Reds with the Crusaders at Ballymore in the late 90s. In those days we wore our number ones to the game and the temperature was in the mid-30s with 70 per cent humidity.
Before the match we ran out of the tunnel into the heat and we went from jogging to walking it was that hot. You could feel the sweat pulsing out of every pore.
At halftime Graham Jack was lying in the shower just trying to get himself cool. After the game Steve Surridge had to be put on a drip. I was one of the players randomly selected for drug testing and it was four or five hours after the match before I could provide a urine sample.
Friday night’s match at Suncorp is a 7.45pm kick-off (10.45pm NZ time) so it should be a lot cooler. Also, we now know much more about hydration and will be taking cooler vests with us just in case.
Many people have asked me about the new law interpretations and I think they are working very well. There are two main ones – the breakdown and the scrum.
The breakdown law basically gives the attacking team more certainty around retaining possession – the result is more attacking play and less kicking which is obviously much better to watch.
On Saturday night there was a good structure and flow to the game.
The difference in the scrum is the way the referee is calling it. The refs call “crouch, touch, pause, engage” and there is a much longer wait between “pause” and “engage”
It’s no longer about which team is quicker out of the blocks and the result is more stable scrums which are less likely to collapse.
I’ve said before that I’m a big fan of allowing fans on to the field after the match and it was a big hit on Saturday night. My wee niece was there and she can’t stop talking about it!
It allows the fans to get up close with their heroes and the players enjoy it too. A big thanks to Vbase for allowing it to happen and I believe the policy could be in place for the remaining six Rebel Sport Super 14 round-robin games at AMI Stadium.
I hope everyone enjoyed the occasion – I can assure you that we are busy trying to iron out any issues with ticketing.
A last word on the guys who made their Crusaders debut on Saturday - Zac Guildford, Robbie Fruean, Sam Whitelock, Peter Borlase and Quentin MacDonald.
They all played extremely well and to have their families in the changing room after the match to share the moment was very special.
Todd Blackadder
Crusaders Head Coach