FORMER Edinburgh head coach and All Blacks captain Todd Blackadder has been appointed coach of the current Super 14 rugby champions, New Zealand's Canterbury Crusaders.
Blackadder, a member of the inaugural Crusaders side in 1996, replaces Robbie Deans who left at the end of the 2008 Super 14 season to take over the Australian national team. Blackadder's assistant coaches will be former Crusaders and All Blacks' p
layers Mark Hammett and Daryl Gibson, who was with Glasgow last season.
"I have a passionate desire to keep the Crusaders at the pinnacle of world rugby, to build on the legacy of the past," Blackadder said.
Blackadder was captain of the Crusaders until 2001, leading them to three Super rugby titles before moving to Scotland to play with and later coach Edinburgh.
A versatile player who played mostly as a lock, but also as a loose forward, Blackadder played 25 times for the All Blacks, including 14 games as captain. He led the All Blacks in ten tests, all during 2000, and notched seven victories.
Meanwhile, rugby league convert Ryan Cross will replace the injured Stirling Mortlock for Saturday's Tri-Nations clash with New Zealand in Sydney.
Mortlock suffered concussion in last Saturday's 16-9 win over South Africa in Perth and was forced to withdraw from the side for the match against the All Blacks, which also doubles as the first of four Bledisloe Cup games.
Flanker George Smith will captain the Wallabies in Mortlock's absence.
Cross, 28, has won three caps as a replacement since making the squad for the first Test against France in June, but Saturday's match at Sydney's Olympic stadium will be his first start.
Cross's elevation to the starting side means a call-up to the bench for another former rugby league player, Timana Tahu,
while lock Dan Vickerman returns to the side after recovering from ankle surgery, replacing Queensland's Hugh McMeniman on the bench.
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has been ruled out of the game through injury. McCaw's place has been taken by Daniel Braid.
The full article contains 346 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
