Crusaders to lead NZ’s charge again
The Canterbury Crusaders' hopes of a fairytale ending to cap a tumultuous Super Rugby season last year were dashed by the Queensland Reds in the final but the seven-time champions again loom as New Zealand's greatest hope to win the trophy.
A year after a ruinous earthquake pounded their home of Christchurch, little has changed for the Crusaders, who will be forced to play their first home game in the southern hemisphere's annual provincial championship against the Waikato Chiefs in Napier.
The Crusaders spent their season riding buses to play home games in small provincial towns but managed to make the playoffs by sheer force of will and upset South Africa's Stormers in Cape Town in a famous semifinal victory.
Like last year, Todd Blackadder's side will have to begin their campaign without captain Richie McCaw, who has yet to recover from a foot injury that he carried through the All Blacks' victorious World Cup. He is not expected to be fit until April.
The Crusaders will battle for home conference honours with the three-times champion Auckland Blues, who were dominant for much of last season but stumbled with a late run of losses that denied them a home semifinal.
The All Black-laden Blues have a monstrous pack, up there with the best in the competition, and their backline has profited from Mark Hammett's controversial clean-out at the Wellington Hurricanes last year.
LACK OF INSPIRATIONAL SKIPPER
All Black scrumhalf Piri Weepu and rampaging inside centre Ma'a Nonu, both former Hurricanes, complement the pack's muscle in the backline, but their lack of an inspirational skipper may hurt them at the business end of the season.
The Highlanders, long New Zealand's easy-beats, shocked many by their brilliant start to the season last year before running out of gas in the leadup to the playoffs.
They finished the season with eight wins and eight losses, and with new recruits including dashing back Hosea Gear and All Black forward Andrew Hore, could make a run to the postseason for the first time in a decade.
The Chiefs finished 10th last year and have proved a huge disappointment in their past two seasons, but could yet surprise their conference rivals.
Much will rest on new recruit Sonny Bill Williams's muscular shoulders, even if many in New Zealand remain unconvinced by the rugby league convert and professional boxer's bona fides.
Williams teams up with Aaron Cruden, heir apparent to the revered All Black flyhalf Dan Carter, in a potentially devastating backline combination, but the forwards will again be under the microscope after being bullied repeatedly last season.
Like the Chiefs, the Wellington Hurricanes have frustrated their fans with insipid performances in the last two seasons despite boasting a squad the envy of a number of franchises in Australia and South Africa.
That roster has now been torn to shreds, with Hammett sensationally dumping skipper Hore and fellow 100-game player Nonu at the end of last season.
New skipper Conrad Smith will have the task of helping Hammett mould a raw team of unheralded youngsters into a competitive unit but it appears unlikely to bear fruit this season.