The Crusaders are pleased Jaco Peyper will blow the Super Rugby final against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday because they rate him as the best referee in the competition, coach Scott Robertson said.
“Jaco is a quality ref and when we were asked recently to rank the referees we said he was number one, so he deserves the final on that alone. Sanzaar should appoint the best referee and not worry about who’s playing in the final.
“He’s experienced and resilient, which is the foremost quality you want. He will blow what’s in front of him and take the emotion out of it, and you can’t ask for more than that,” Robertson said.
Also read: Lions need to switch on to Ellis Park’s white noise
The Crusaders coach named an unchanged squad of 23, but added he was disappointed with the amount of possession they had against the Chiefs in the semifinal, pinpointing that as a key area they need to improve against the Lions.
“We’re not going to win if we only have 19% of the ball, we can’t defend for 80 minutes, even though we did a great job against the Chiefs. We have to get the territory and possession stats right to have a chance and we have to score points to win. The Lions score a lot of points in the last period of the second half, we’re well aware of that strength, but we’re fit,” Robertson said.
The impressive Crusaders defence is built around having numbers on their feet, therefore committing less players to the breakdown, but openside flank Matt Todd says they cannot just allow the Lions to win ruck ball ad infinitum.
“We know they go hard on the ball, so we have to make sure our ball-carriers are on the ball as well.”
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