Will Jordan will be a key part of the Crusaders this season as they look for a bounce-back year. Photo / photosport.nz
With the new Super Rugby season kicking off this Friday for the Crusaders, the post-Scott Robertson dynasty is looking for a bounce-back year. Mike Thorpe reports.
Expect a very different-looking Crusaders with the ball in hand this year. The new attack coach wants to see less structure and more freedom from his strike weapons.
James Marshall, by his own admission, will go from “ideas man” to decision-maker for the 2025 Super Rugby season – which gets under way in Christchurch on Friday night.
Marshall was assistant to Tamati Ellison in 2024 and Scott Hanson before that. Both have since joined the All Blacks coaching team.
“[It’s an] opportunity to do things the way I want to do [them] and not have to try to convince someone else to change the way they want to do it; get this team playing in a style that I’ve always thought would be effective,” says Marshall.
That style, he says, is “very free”.
“Trying to give the players a real licence to look up and play, wherever that is,” says Marshall.
“It won’t be really structured.”
It will be a welcome change for fans who have been critical of rugby – as a whole – becoming too formulaic.
“[There’ll be] a lot of conversation throughout the week with players to help them identify the pictures [or scenarios] that they might see. And then when they see them, [I’ll] just back their skill set and give them the confidence to pull the trigger,” says Marshall.
“I’ve always felt like a team [in which] the players can adapt on the run, they’ll always beat a well-coached driven side because every minute of the game, they’re working out what they can do.
“I feel like when you’re trying to send messages down and keep demanding they do this or that or that, you’re always behind the eight ball.”
Of course, that level of play requires a certain level of player – and Marshall believes the Crusaders have them, especially when fully fit.
“Will Jordan’s probably one of the smartest rugby brains going around. He’s incredible with how he sees the game, the vision,” says Marshall.
Jordan is a welcome sight at the Crusaders’ HQ for coaches and teammates alike – having not played a single minute of Super Rugby in 2024. The world-class fullback recovered from his shoulder surgery in time to make the All Blacks’ end-of-year tour and will be a key figure in the coming campaign.
“James [Marshall] and I have a lot of conversations about the game. I’m a bit of a rugby ‘nuffy’ as well. I love the strategic and I guess the tactical side of the game,” says Jordan.
“It was tough over my break to not sort of pop into Rugby Park and talk a bit of shop with him around what’s happening.”
It’ll be 600 days between Super Rugby appearances for the brilliant fullback. His last game in the Crusaders jersey was the 2023 final against the Chiefs in Hamilton. The Crusaders won that match (25-20) to claim their 14th Super Rugby crown – capping an incredible run of seven consecutive titles under Scott Robertson. Last season they missed the playoffs altogether.
“We played a pretty similar game plan which we’ve sort of rolled through for the last seven or eight years, and I guess on the back of last year we had a bit of a review around: How could the game change a little bit?” says Jordan.
That’s where Marshall has been instrumental in implementing greater ball movement – already evident in the Crusaders' two pre-season matches.
“There’s been a few changes to our shape, trying to empower our forwards to play a bit more in the middle and use their skills and their ability at the line,” says Jordan.
The ultimate goal is to be able to break down defensive structures that have become harder and harder to penetrate. That reward comes with risks – namely an increased margin for error.
This is where Marshall’s man-management style reveals itself.
“When it doesn’t go right or in moments where they might get it wrong, [the key] is to not hammer down on them and keep giving them the confidence to back themselves, and I think they’ll work it out and get us there eventually,” says Marshall.
Marshall’s manner has a fan in returning coach Brad Mooar.
“He’s got great energy, his mind’s on – loves the game, really curious about it. [Marshall] brings a beautiful way with him about how he’s engaging the group,” says Mooar.
Marshall will win over fans, too – if the Crusaders can pair entertainment with winning in 2025.
The first opportunity to do that will be against the Hurricanes in a few days time.
While Super Rugby kicks off this weekend, NRL fans will have to make do with another round of trial games before the season proper begins.
Already there is a wealth of southern talent on display – and many of them have emerged from the Mainland’s league factory, St Thomas of Canterbury College.
The Warriors’ first-up draw with the Cronulla Sharks saw STC old boy Felix Fa’atili mixing it with the big boys and he did not look out of place. The hard-running front-rower was a high-school superstar and is making his way through the grades for the Sharks.
He spent 2024 playing Jersey Flegg (U21s) but could see plenty of minutes for the Sharks’ feeder club Newtown Jets in this year’s NSW Cup. The Jets are reigning premiers.
Meanwhile, Fa’atili’s older brother Caius (also an old boy of STC) has headed to the Northern Hemisphere for the upcoming season. The 23-year-old will turn out for Wakefield Trinity, who have returned to the Super League.
STC are back-to-back champions in the National Secondary School championships and some of those players have since moved on to represent NRL clubs in age-grade competitions.
Playing SG Ball (U19s) this year are Meihana Pauling and Isaiah Savea (Warriors), Jackson Stewart (Sydney Roosters), Ezekiel Paulo (Manly Sea Eagles), Ezekiel Faga-Ieti (Newcastle Knights) and Sosaia Alatini (Canterbury Bulldogs).
The STC old boys aren’t the only ones who have hit the ground running in 2025, with a handful of current students already in the thick of Harold Matthews Cup (U17) action for the Warriors. Bishop Neal, Calieb Fidow, Kenny Lafituanai and Christiano Elia are part of the side aiming to retain the title they won last year. So far, so good – the young Wahs are two wins from two games, both on the road.
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.
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