{"id":220801,"date":"2025-10-17T18:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/220801\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T18:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:15:09","slug":"crusaders-boss-hits-out-at-lazy-nrl-clubs-over-recruitment-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/220801\/","title":{"rendered":"Crusaders boss hits out at ‘lazy’ NRL clubs over recruitment tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Crusaders<\/a> have lost a handful of their next-generation talents in recent weeks, prompting CEO Colin Mansbridge to level some criticism at those he sees as preying on their world-renowned academy.<\/p>\n

Star prospect Harry Inch<\/a> informed the Crusaders last week that he intends to pursue an opportunity with New Zealand\u2019s NRL club, the Warriors, while fellow schoolboy standout Saumaki Saumaki<\/a> is also looking to the 13-man code, and is set to make the South Sydney Rabbitohs his new home. Both players were highly touted coming up through the Nelson region and had contracts with the NPC\u2019s Tasman Mako.<\/p>\n

News of fellow Mako man Fletcher Anderson<\/a> being Llanelli-bound after an approach from Scarlets<\/a> added to the bad news for the Crusaders, while U20 graduates Eli Oudenryn<\/a> and James Cameron<\/a> have both been recruited by the Blues.<\/p>\n

Mansbridge reacted to Inch and Saumaki\u2019s departures with frustration, saying NRL clubs too often look to young players coming through rugby union academies instead of developing their own talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [league clubs] unashamedly target rugby union development systems because they think they are so good,\u201d Mansbridge said, as reported by Stuff<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of opportunities for young men and women now, and I think that other code does a very good job of relying on rugby union to be its development pathway. They don\u2019t do any of it themselves; they\u2019re really lazy in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

Super Rugby Pacific<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Crusaders <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Hurricanes <\/p>\n

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Mansbridge added that the NRL\u2019s expansion into Perth and Papua New Guinea would only worsen the recruitment drain. His counterpart at the Warriors, Cameron George, responded to the quotes by saying Mansbridge had got the wrong idea, and that his club had big plans for the future, also adding that the Crusaders may be \u201cfeeling the pressure\u201d of rugby league\u2019s growing presence in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

A player like Inch, who featured for the Crusaders during the 2025 preseason at inside centre, is highly sought after, and Mansbridge wanted to keep the situation in context.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have got to be careful. We don\u2019t own anyone. Our job is we want them to play for Canterbury<\/a> or Tasman, the Crusaders and the All Blacks<\/a>. That\u2019s the perfect combination. We do everything in our power to enable that to occur, but without coercion, without handcuffing, we try and make the system work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens is sometimes, just through the activity of other clubs, the activity of other codes, and then the player looking and perceiving what their opportunities\u00a0are, they make certain calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t convince every player every time. I think if we get it 90% right, we are pretty comfortable. There\u2019s been a wee bit more activity recently. But I just go back to the core, what are we about, what are we trying to do, and are we doing as well as we can?\u201d<\/p>\n

The CEO also spoke about the departures of Oudenryn and Cameron, saying he understands why the former might feel that his best opportunities may lie elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing through our system, Eli has found his place in Tasman, and he looks at the Crusaders roster and goes: \u2018Actually, I\u2019ve got a 100-plus test All Black [Codie Taylor] ahead of me. I\u2019ve got another [George Bell] who looks like he could be a 100-test All Black, and another [Manumaua Letiu] who looks like he could be an All Black captain. I\u2019ll take my chances with the Blues\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Crusaders have lost a handful of their next-generation talents in recent weeks, prompting CEO Colin Mansbridge to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-220801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}