Ross Karl

But they're all in on the seven train, that's for sure.

you know, sort of people that have committed so much already that they're sort of just casting aside quite ruthlessly.

And I just get the sense it's a recruitment drive to bolster the Japanese side moving forward.

Yeah, that's the only thing that makes sense to me.

I mean, it could be meaningful for the stars because there's less of those Category A players, you know, like it may create more opportunities for players that have, you know, experience in better leagues.

But, yeah, it just looks to me as a plan, I suppose, 2031 World Cup and beyond.

Yeah, look, I really commend the Crusaders' defence.

Like, I've spoken about it a hell of a lot this year that I feel like the only way to force the Hurricanes into mistakes is to just keep coming.

And they were quite tight, the Crusaders, and they just kept coming.

And you saw the Hurricanes have to put in inside balls.

They didn't throw the big bridge pass.

For the most part, I'd say for 85% of the match, the Crusaders did so well defensively.

Even at the breakdown, sliding ball down, not allowing Cam Roygard to have as massive impact.

I know he scored a great try.

But

That's the blueprint.

You've just got to be able to handle the 15% of, I suppose, off-the-cuff players that they have, and that's where they did it.

I think the Yolse down the edge with the chip infield for Roy Gard's try, we've spoken about the Billy Proctor regather and then offload to Lakai.

It's those ones, if you can stop them like the Chiefs did,

They got a lot of entries into the 22.