Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

All-conquering Crusaders beat Chiefs to maintain perfect record

Crusaders’ David Havili is tackled by Anton Lienert-Brown

The Crusaders juggernaut rolls on after they beat Chiefs 31-24 in an almighty Super Rugby tussle in Suva on Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Crusaders had lost their last four matches against Chiefs, but came from 17-13 down at half-time to defeat their New Zealand rivals at ANZ Stadium.

Scott Robertson’s side were outscored by four tries to three, but Richie Mo’unga scored 16 points with the boot to ensure the New Zealand Conference leaders made it 12 wins out of 12 this season.

Chiefs, fresh from a bye last week, threatened to consign Crusaders to a first loss of the year after Tim Nanai-Williams went over in the corner and James Lowe touched down five minutes later following two Mo’unga penalties.

Crusaders hit back with their first five-pointer from Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, although Chiefs felt Owen Franks had been obstructed by Tawera Kerr-Barlow.

Kane Hames responded by barging his way over and Aaron Cruden converted for the first time on the night to give Chiefs a four-point advantage at the end of a first half in which Crusaders lost Ryan Crotty, who failed to pass a concussion test.

ADVERTISEMENT

Crusaders stepped it up following the interval, reaping the rewards with a superb try from David Havili and another from Ben Funnell, with Mo’unga converting and adding two penalties either side of Cruden showing a sharp turn of foot to dive over.

Cruden was unable to match the standards set by Mo’unga from the tee as Chiefs suffered only their second loss of the season and trail Crusaders by 11 points.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
Nickers 22 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

41 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith' Mick Cleary: 'Borthwick needs to have faith in Marcus Smith'
Search