The Crusaders have been forced to change their team to face the Sharks tomorrow, less than 24 hours after announcing it in the first place.
15-Cap All Black hooker, Corey Flynn, suffered an eye injury at training yesterday and will not be fit to play at Kings Park. 22-year-old Ben Funnell is thus elevated from the bench into the number 2 jersey, while the Crusaders look set to learn a harsh lesson about touring without a third hooker; Codie Taylor is being rushed over to join the team and will be hastily bundled into the number 16 jersey as soon as he arrives.
Taylor is himself a rookie, having made his Crusaders debut against the Southern Kings two weeks ago.
Crusaders: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Adam Whitelock, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Matt Todd, 6 George Whitelock (captain), 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Ben Funnell, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Joe Moody, 18 Dominic Bird, 19 Jordan Taufua, 20 Willi Heinz, 21 Telusa Veainu, 22 Israel Dagg.
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Cannot see Taylor getting over in time.
We should take this one. They are very much an injury depleted outfit.
@King Shark (Comment 2) : That means nothing.
They should rather have asked for Deon Fourie. He combined very well with Whitelock 🙄
@King Shark (Comment 2) : so are we!
If Franks is still carrying an injury the Crusaders will be vunerable
@Bokhoring (Comment 4) :
@overseas shark (Comment 6) : Franks went off after 15minutes against the stormers… they didn’t look vulnerable after that?