The Crusaders average only 16 points a game following Saturday's 14-13 win over the Stormers. Photo / Getty Images
They were the only New Zealand franchise to taste victory this week - a vital first win of 2014 for the Crusaders - but there still remain plenty of questions marks over the seven-time champions and their lack of fire power.
Despite 11 All Blacks in their starting lineup the
Crusaders are noticeably lacking any game-breakers in their backline with Israel Dagg, their best exponent of breaking the line, being dropped then shifted from fullback to the left wing in their opening three games.
They sit in 14th spot through four weeks of competition but if you dig deeper into the stats sheet their attacking issues become clearer.
First off and it's an obvious one, they aren't scoring points - averaging only 16 points a game following Saturday's 14-13 win over the Stormers. A huge drop off from the last two seasons when they averaged 27.8 and 30.3 points a game respectively. The last time the Crusaders scored fewer than 15 points at home, in any game let alone a victory, was in 2009 also against the Stormers in a 11-7 win.
They made just one clean break against the Stormers from 136 carries and that came from halfback Willi Heinz. After 13 clean breaks in their opening two defeats against the Chiefs and Blues the Crusaders are now ranked 11th in that category across the competition.
