Crusaders’ first five struggles have them playing like the Blues in their wilderness years - Gregor Paul

The Crusaders will be looking enviously at Damian McKenzie and the Chiefs. Photo / photosport.nz

OPINION

The Crusaders probably had a pre-season inkling that life was going to be tough for them without Richie Mo’unga, but with their champion mindset and proven ability to successfully transition from one era to the next, they would have backed themselves to overcome the loss of such a gifted talent.

Three games into their campaign, and maybe now they’re realising Mo’unga was a much bigger factor in their seven successive championships than they ever realised.

They are perhaps realising, too, now they’re staring down the barrel of an unprecedented fourth straight defeat, that Super Rugby success is disproportionately influenced by the ability of a team’s first five-eighth.

No team has ever won this competition without an international-class first five.

Maybe in France teams can scrum their way to a title, or in England they can strategically kick their way to victory, or use their smarts at the breakdown to be champions in Ireland.

But in Super Rugby, it’s all about the influence of the No. 10 and what they bring to the table.

Richie Mo'unga has emerged as the Crusaders' biggest loss. Photo / Photosport

No doubt when the Crusaders were planning for 2024, they were confident they could overcome the loss of key players such as Sam Whitelock, Jack Goodhue, Leicester Fainga’anuku and Mo’unga.

This is a club that deals with big-name departures all the time and has seamlessly transitioned over the years - farewelling the likes of Kieran Read one season to embracing the arrival of Cullen Grace the next.

Even losing the enigmatic Scott Robertson as head coach wasn’t seen as a terminal threat to their ambition in 2024.

There’s too much cultural capital locked into the system to be derailed by the loss of one man – however clever and innovative.

It’s a club that has a depth of understanding about who they are: a club with systems and values that transcend rugby and enable new players and coaches to come in and have the confidence the core values of hard work, honesty and unity will all be in place.

The Crusaders don’t do rebuilding years because they have this enviable ability to find raw talent, evolve for the next generation and live up to the expectations of their predecessors.

Scott Robertson's departure wasn't seen as a death knell for the Crusaders. Photo / Getty

And besides, for all that the experience and ability the Crusaders lost at the end of 2023, they still have a thunderous tight five, a quality loose trio, a potentially dynamic midfield and finishing power, with Sevu Reece in top form.

But what they haven’t been able to do is find a No. 10 remotely close in influence to Mo’unga.

He was a ferocious talent and provided the Crusaders with that almost impossible combination of strategic know-how and unpredictable magic.

Whether Mo’unga could be classified as an All Blacks great is a debate for another day, but he was sensationally good when he played in Super Rugby.

The Crusaders had all sorts of weaponry sustaining their success between 2017 and 2023 but it’s interesting to ponder, now they have fallen off the cliff, whether even with an All Black-laden team and the innovative coaching of Robertson they would have won as many titles as they did without Mo’unga.

In fact, the question could be pushed back further, because the Crusaders have always had a world-class No. 10.

They began life with Andrew Mehrtens, supported a little by Aaron Mauger, and then in came Dan Carter, who was replaced by Mo’unga.

The production line has been incredible - and now it’s not working, the Crusaders are suffering.

They are starting to play a little like the Blues did in those wilderness years between Carlos Spencer leaving and Beauden Barrett arriving.

For that whole period, the Blues had a decent pack and a handful of deadly finishers, but every year they lacked the game management and control they needed at No. 10.

It was the same old story: they couldn’t build enough opportunities or be clinical when they needed to be and their decision-making hurt them.

Which is a problem the Crusaders have never previously experienced but are now, because they simply don’t have the player they need at No. 10.

Perhaps they wouldn’t be where they are if Fergus Burke hadn’t injured himself, but they are certainly struggling to get the control and composure they need from their two young proteges Rivez Reihana and Taha Kemara.

Neither have come off the Christchurch schools’ production line the way their predecessors have, and neither have been able to do what both Carter and Mo’unga did and look instantly comfortable and ready to play at this level.

These two youngsters may come right in time and find their feet, but it won’t be this year, and the Crusaders will look at what the Chiefs are getting from Damian McKenzie, the Blues from Stephen Perofeta, and the Highlanders from the tournament’s surprise package Rhys Patchell, and know they don’t have a playmaker in the same class.