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Brumbies rue blowing halftime lead in Christchurch

The Brumbies have blown a chance to end their Super Rugby drought against the Crusaders, falling away in the second half to lose 36-14 in Christchurch.

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The men from Canberra produced one of their most intense 40-minute efforts in recent memory to lead 7-0 at the break on Saturday, playing with a physicality and accuracy that threw the defending champions off kilter.

However, they couldn’t maintain it, conceding five tries in a one-sided second half, including a brace each to Crusaders wingers Sevu Reece and Will Jordan.

It means their decade-long wait to beat the nine-time champions goes on. The Brumbies haven’t won in Christchurch for nearly 20 years.

The result was a relief for the competition leaders, who were playing their first game Christchurch since the tragic mosque attacks three weeks earlier.

It was their sixth win from seven games this season while the Brumbies slump to a 2-5 record, the worst of the four Australian sides.

Coach Dan M cKellar’s decision to rest three Wallabies forwards following a bye week didn’t have any negative impact on their exceptional early output.

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Captain Christian Lealiifano darted over in the 32nd minute, capitalising on his team’s relentless tactic of keeping ball in hand and forcing mistakes from the ill-disciplined hosts.

The Crusaders conceded eight penalties to two by halftime and their Test prop Owen Franks was shown a yellow card in his 150th game for a no-arms tackle on Henry Speight.

Momentum swung on a big scrum from the home pack soon after the break and the tries followed.

Reece crossed once and Jordan twice in the third quarter as the Brumbies were forced into defence mode, struggling to shut down the crafty play-making of inside backs Richie Mo’unga and Ryan Crotty.

Yellow cards were shown to winger Toni Pulu and reserve lock Sam Carter, both for high tackles, making it even harder to stem the red and black tide.

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Lealiifano tr ied to squeeze the positives from the performance.

“A really impressive first half, we came out with the right intent,” he said.

“It was just a shame that we couldn’t continue that in the second half.

“They put us under a lot of pressure there in the second half and a quality side like that can hurt you from anywhere… but we’ll take plenty of confidence. There’s something to build on there.”

The Brumbies created the final try, when Pulu broke from distance to set up Tevita Kuridrani.

Crotty praised the Crusaders defence for not wilting when the Brumbies bossed the first spell.

“I don’t think we touched the ball for that second 20 minutes. It was awesome that we only let them in for seven,” he said.

“We talked about trust that momentum would come back our way. We just had to be good enough to execute when it did.”

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J
JW 25 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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