Crusaders edge out Highlanders in Super 12 warm up
January 30, 2000

In a re-match of the 1999 Super 12 final, the Crusaders edged out the Highlanders 19-18 in Invercargill on Saturday.

The home side will be less worried by the scoreline than the injuries suffered by Byron Kelleher, Romi Ropati and Carl Hayman.

New coach Peter Sloane will be particularly concerned by the fitness of young prop Hayman who was hospitalised for an x-ray on an elbow injury.

Norm Berryman for the Crusaders and Jeff Wilson for the Highlanders had excellent games, thelatter scoring a first half hat trick of tries.This will be a big season for the flamboyantly gifted and enigmatic Northlander Berryman.

Capped by the All Blacks in South Africa in 1998, he fell out with coach John Hart last year after publicly criticising Hart's coaching methods. Berryman has thrived in the Canterbury environment during Wayne Smith's tenure and following his elevation to the All Black coaching position can reasonably expect, form allowing, a return to the All Black squad.

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