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Richie Mo unga of the Crusaders passes the ball against the Highlanders, kicked a lot in the latter stages of the game.
OPINION: The Crusaders don’t kick the ball in the last 20 minutes of a match. They just don’t. The Crusaders keep on moving men and possession into space until the opposition runs out of breath and defenders. And then the earth stopped turning. In the final quarter of the match against the Highlanders, Richie Mo’unga kicked and kicked and kicked. Tactically, it was not a terrible idea, but it was not the plan of the Crusaders’ coaches who had talked about depth and getting to the edge. Mo’unga abandoned the plan. Too many moves had broken down and looked confused. Mo’unga was no longer sure of the game that he was trying to play, and he did not appear to be sure of the men around him.
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Randwick.
Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Randwick, with
Nature Strip a confirmed runner and
Bivouac 50/50 after also being entered for the longer
Canterbury Stakes (1300m) on the same program.
They head the weights at 58.5kg for the
Newmarket Handicap but connections revealed a fortnight ago that neither horse would run, a snub to the most revered sprint in the country especially given they were weighted to be competitive – using history as a benchmark – and also that the Newmarket purse of $1,25 million dwarfed the $500,0000 for the two Sydney races.
The bypassing of the
Newmarket by two star sprinters who had established an enticing rivalry has been frustrating for the
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