News

Laulala ruled out, Ralph in

April 24 2008

In-form centre Casey Laulala has failed his impact test ahead of Friday's Super 14 clash against the Blues and will be replaced in the starting line-up by veteran Caleb Ralph.

The Crusaders confirmed this morning that Laulala, who suffered a head knock in the 5-18 loss to the Chiefs last weekend, had not produced the desired result in further impact tests conducted before Thursday's captain's run.

"He's not quite where he needs to be and we were never going to take any chances with him," said a Crusaders spokesman.

Laulala did not even participate in the captain's run, with Ralph stepping straight into the number thirteen position.

The Super 14 centurion Ralph, is a more-than-able replacement for a match being billed as one of the clashes of the season.

Meanwhile, the Friday night fixture at AMI Stadium is on track to be a sell-out.

As of Thursday morning, there have been 21,000 tickets sales, with just a further 4,500 left before the "full house" signs go up.

The forecast is for a fine night in Christchurch on Anzac Day and with both teams desperate for "bounce back" victories, a hotly contested match is on the cards.

Crusaders (revised): 15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Kade Poki, 13 Caleb Ralph, 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Andrew Ellis; 8 Mose Tuiali'i, 7 Richard McCaw (c), 6 Kieran Read, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Ben Franks.

Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ross Filipo, 19 Nasi Manu, 20 Kahn Fotuali'i, 21 Hamish Gard, 22 Scott Hamilton.