The Crusaders have named their first squad of the 2012 season ahead of their pre-Super Rugby season match against the Highlanders on Friday night at 5.45pm at Rugby Park, Greymouth.
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The Crusaders will be captained by Wyatt Crockett and will travel to Greymouth on Wednesday for a pre-season camp before their match on Friday night and as part of their camp the squad will be involved in visiting a number of schools on the coast from Westport down to the Fox Glacier.
The Crusaders did not consider a number of players for this match as they were all unavailable.
The list of unavailable players has some big names on it and includes, Tom Taylor, Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock, Owen Franks, Corey Flynn, Richie McCaw, Zac Guildford, Israel Dagg, Johnny McNicoll.
Team: 1 Wyatt Crockett (Captain), 2 Quentin MacDonald, 3 Nick Barrett, 4 Ross Kennedy, 5 Tom Donnelly, 6 Joe Wheeler, 7 Matt Todd, 8 Luke Whitelock, 9 Willi Heinz, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal, 11 Adam Whitelock, 12 Ryan Crotty, 13 Robbie Fruean, 14 Sean Maitland, 15 Tom Marshall
Replacements:
Forwards: Joe Moody, Ben Franks, Sam Prattley, Ben Funnell, Codie Taylor, Luke Romano, Dominic Bird, Brendon O’Connor, George Whitlock
Backs: Mark Swanepoel, Mitchell Scott, Patrick Osborne, Andy Ellis.
A team like this puts perspective on the depth needed and available accross all the Super Rugby sides.
A LOT of unknowns and no-names in this side… Plus a few very good players.